Manny Babbitt
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Manuel Pina "Manny" Babbitt (May 3, 1949 – May 4, 1999) was a U.S. Marine veteran of the Vietnam War who was convicted of the murder of a 78 year old grandmother, Leah Schendel, in Sacramento, California in 1980, and executed by the state of California by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison, one day after his 50th birthday. Babbitt had been wounded at the bloody 1968 Battle of Khe Sanh and as part of his defense claimed that he suffered under post-traumatic stress disorder, which he said caused him to commit his crime and, later, to lose all memory of it.
One year before his execution, while on Death Row, Babbitt was awarded a Purple Heart medal for the wounds he had received at the Battle of Khe Sanh.
Babbitt refused his last meal and asked that the $50 allotted be given to homeless Vietnam veterans. His last words were: "I forgive all of you." He was buried in Wareham, Massachusetts, on May 10, 1999, with full military honors.
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[edit] Sources
- Manuel Babbitt. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Retrieved on 2007-11-16.
- Bill Babbitt, California - Brother of Manny Babbitt, executed in California in 1999. Murder Victims' Families For Human Rights. Retrieved on 2007-11-16.
- White, Jerry. California executes mentally ill Vietnam veteran. World Socialist Web Site (1999-05-05). Retrieved on 2007-11-16.
- Da Costa-Fernandes, Manuela. Manny Babbitt laid to rest. The Standard-Times (1999-05-11). Retrieved on 2007-11-16.
- Glantz, Aaron. Remembering Manny Babbitt. Truthdig (2007-07-17). Retrieved on 2007-11-16.
- King, Rachel. Pages 66-70. Capital Consequences: Families Of The Condemned Tell Their Stories. Rutgers University Press (2005). ISBN 0-8135-3504-2. Retrieved on 2007-11-16.
