AIKEN'S PHOTO



EATON HOME (Ventura)



SAN QUENTIN, AIKENS WALKING IN EXERCISE YARD



GENERAL SHOTS OF DEATH ROW, ETC.



GASHAMBER




Initials


the murder took place in Ventura, California; Deem is District Attorney of Ventura COUNTY (not town)

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Earnest James Aikens has been involved in crime since the age of 11. In 1966--when he was 20--he was sentenced to die for the murder of a Ventura, California housewife.

Mrs. Mary Eaton was robbed, raped and stabbed to death in her own home...a few doors away from Aiken's house, where he lived with his mother.

Today, Earnest Aikens waits on San Quentin's death row with more than a hundred other convicts for next week's U.S. Supreme Court hearing of his appeal.

Aiken's appeal was prepared by 14 attorneys. They make no please for sympathy or claim of trial error...they don't argue his guilt. Their only argument is that the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment...and prohibited by the 8th and 14th amendments (to the Constitution). Aikens was convicted 6 years ago -- and the prosecutor who handled the case still favours the death penalty
SOF WOODRUFF DEEM, Ventura District Attorney.

194 people have been executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin. But, for the last five years, the chamber has been unused while California and 40 other states have been waiting for the courts to decide if death is a proper punishment for man.