Housel left his wife in California in October of 1984, his marriage having unraveled as a result of his "being on the road" all the time. A month later Housel began living with a woman in Council Bluffs, Iowa. In February 1985, Housel was at a truck stop in Spring, Texas, "laid over trying to get a load." Housel stated, "We were all in our leathers, dressed more or less like a rowdy little bike club, just raising Hell and discontent." He met a man named Troy, who had a quantity of cocaine and was trying to sell it. Troy got drunk, and Housel helped him out to his truck and went back to the bar. He learned (he said) that "a couple of guys [were] planning on robbing [Troy] of all of his cocaine," but after he told them not to, they "left him alone." However, Housel himself "was wanting, I guess, a little bit more cocaine," so he climbed into Troy's cab "just [to] fix my nose again and go on about my business." Troy woke up and accused Housel of trying to steal his cocaine. When Troy grabbed him by the throat, Housel picked up a hammer and hit him on the head eight or nine times. Housel took Troy's cocaine and a few other things, including a CB radio, a stereo, and Troy's identification, put them into his bag, and drove the truck to Beaumont, Texas, where he left it. He stated that Troy was still breathing when he left Spring, but that he died somewhere between Spring and Beaumont. Troy's body was found in the sleeper of his cab, seven miles from Beaumont, Texas, on February 20, 1985. He was nude from the waist down, and had been anally sodomized.

On March 29, 1985, Housel was back in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He met a man named Gary at a truck stop and asked him for a ride to Des Moines, where perhaps he could get a job. Gary told him he would take him as far as Atlantic, which was about halfway. They got into Gary's car and drove. Gary testified that when they reached the Atlantic exit, Housel pulled out a knife and told him to drive on. A couple of exits later, Housel told Gary to pull off the interstate and park. Then, Gary testified, Housel demanded his wallet, and stabbed him as he reached for it. Housel stated that Gary made a gesture which he interpreted as a homosexual advance, and he "freaked"; he pulled out his knife and began stabbing him. Gary denied making any sexual advances. In any event, Gary got out of his car, and Housel pushed him down a ravine. When Gary climbed out, Housel stabbed him several more times and threw him back in. Gary had thrown away his keys, but Housel found a spare key in the console and drove the car to New Jersey. Credit card receipts found in Housel's belongings after he was arrested showed that he had used Gary's credit cards in Iowa, Illinois and Pennsylvania on March 30 and April 1.

On April 2, 1985, a young woman named Renee met Housel at the apartment of a friend of hers in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. Housel introduced himself as "Troy." About 11:30 p.m., Renee announced that she was going home. "Troy" (who Renee identified at trial as the defendant) offered to escort her to her car. Once there, Housel entered the car and began to strangle her, and then forced her to orally sodomize him. Telling her she was too nice to kill, he took all her money and left. Renee testified that she had marks on her neck from being strangled that did not finally disappear until late that summer.

Next, Housel drove Gary's car to Spartanburg, South Carolina, where he abandoned it. He caught a ride from there to Lawrenceville, Georgia. After "drinking all night," Housel met the victim in this case, Jean Drew, in the early morning hours of April 7, 1985, at a Lawrenceville truck stop. Housel said they had sex, and then went for a ride in her car, a silver-gray Mustang. They parked in an open area behind some woods, just off Beaver Ruin road in Gwinnett County. According to Housel, they were having sex again in the back seat of her car when he got the urge to spit. Unfortunately, his spit hit her window. She began yelling at him, and he lost his temper and began striking her with his fists. (There was blood all over the inside of the car when it was recovered.) They got out of the car. Her nose was bleeding, and she spit blood on him. Then he really hit her, and she fell "like a ton of bricks." He got on his knees and strangled her, and then he picked up a stick and beat her face to a "bloody pulp." Housel left her lying there, and drove her car to Daytona Beach, Florida, where, using her credit cards, he stayed several days prior to being arrested. Jean Drew's body was found later that morning, nude from the waist down. Her head was "extensively traumatized and disfigured." There were "several lesions about the neck area," and there was "blood smeared on both hands." The pathologist who conducted the autopsy testified that the victim was still alive at the time of strangulation, and that the "[strangulation] force was fairly long in duration given the amount of . . . contusion in the area of the neck . . .; the [hyoid] bone . . . was broken . . . and there was digging of fingernails not just into the skin and left in place, but actually tearing through the skin which is another indication of a fair degree of struggle on the part of the decedent." Several of the victim's teeth had been knocked out. Her mouth was cut. Her skull was crushed in three places. The pathologist testified that because of the extensive trauma to the head, it was impossible to determine how many times the victim had been struck. Cause of death was "a combination of multiple head trauma and asphyxiation by strangulation."

Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (Housel News)

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (March 13, 2002)

"Execution of Housel Major News in Europe," by Rhonda Cook.

JACKSON -- Considering the 20 foreign media representatives outside the Georgia Diagnostics and Classification Prison Tuesday, Europe was more interested in the execution of Tracy Housel, a drifter and accused serial killer, than the people in this state. At 7:28 p.m., Housel became the sixth person Georgia has put to death by lethal injection. The BBC broadcast that news live to audiences in England. Throughout the evening, reporters for several London newspapers and a French news service huddled under a tarpaulin set up by corrections officials to stay out of a cold, steady rain. Only five Georgia reporters were present. Housel, 43, was the focus of news coverage in the United Kingdom and pleas for clemency by the European Union because of his dual citizenship. He was born in Bermuda, a British territory.

Housel was executed for killing Jean Drew, who he met at a Gwinnett County truck stop restaurant in 1985. He also was linked to murders in Texas and California and assaults in Iowa and New Jersey.

It was a friendly atmosphere in the death chamber, as Housel chatted with nurses, officers and the warden. He was interested in what was happening to him, asking questions and watching what they did to him. He smiled and winked at the warden and recited verses from the Old and New Testaments read by the chaplain -- the 23rd Psalm and 2nd Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 17 -- "The old is gone and the new has come," they said. He apologized to the family of Jean Drew, though corrections officials said they were unable to locate family members to be present. While the drugs were administered, he sang, but the words were not audible. As the drugs took effect, he gasped and snorted. After several minutes, his chest stopped moving. Earlier Tuesday, Housel was visited by his mother, 20-year-old son and ex-wife. Friend Gary Proctor, who met Housel in 1999 while doing some investigative work for Housel's lawyers, also was one of his visitors. He said they talked about Harley-Davidson motorcycles and Housel's days as a truck driver. Housel's last meal consisted of steak, baked potato, salad, corn, a milkshake and ice cream.

Though Housel had pleaded guilty to murdering Drew, Housel's lawyers and supporters tried to save him by arguing that he would not have received the death penalty if the jury had heard that he suffered several head injures as a child and was hypoglycemic and could not be responsible for his actions when his blood sugar level dropped. Diplomats from five European Union nations, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and a member of the British Parliament worked on his behalf. On Monday, the BBC reported live from outside the building where the Department of Corrections and the state Board of Pardons and Paroles have offices. BBC online reporter Jonathan Duffy said it was England's "ghoulish fascination" with the death penalty, which was abolished there nearly 40 years ago. The United States and 85 other countries have the death penalty. Tuesday night, Duffy reported online that Housel became the first British man executed in America in seven years. "News of Housel's fate will come as a bitter disappointment to those in Britain who have fought for a reprieve," he wrote.

Reuters (Tue Mar 12, 9:05 PM ET)

"British Man Executed in U.S. for 1985 Murder."

JACKSON, Ga. (Reuters) - A British man convicted of the 1985 murder of a female hitchhiker was executed on Tuesday in Georgia despite sharp protests, particularly in Britain. Tracy Housel, 43, received a lethal injection of drugs and chemicals at a state prison in Jackson, 50 miles south of Atlanta, said Georgia Department of Corrections spokesman Scott Stallings.

The execution occurred just hours after the Georgia Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene. Housel's attorneys had asked the courts to grant a stay of execution on the grounds that Georgia's failure to notify British authorities at the time of Housel's arrest and trial violated international law.

Housel was pronounced dead at 7:28 p.m., 11 minutes after the execution began. He spent 16 years on death row for strangling Jean Drew, whom he met at a truck stop in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Authorities believed Housel was responsible for at least one other murder and possibly more. Housel apologized for his crimes in a short final statement before he was put to death.

"He said he was sorry for the pain he had caused the victims and their families," said Stallings, who added that Housel requested that two Bible verses, Psalm 23 and Second Corinthians, Chapter 5, be read. Housel received a fresh set of clothes and ate a final meal of steak, baked potato, corn, ice cream and a chocolate milkshake prior to the insertion of the needles in the prison death chamber. Housel was one of four Britons on death row in the United States. Born in the British colony of Bermuda, he held dual U.S. and British citizenship. He came to the United States as a child and lived there most of his life.

BRITAIN, EU PLEAD IN VAIN

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and representatives of four other European Union nations pleaded in vain with Georgia to show mercy to Housel. The 15-nation European Union forbids its members from practicing capital punishment. Britain abolished the death penalty about 40 years ago. Laura Moye of Amnesty International, a group that also opposes the death penalty, said the execution showed the United States was out of step on the issue of capital punishment. "I think we are continuing to alienate ourselves from the international community, which is more and more turning away from the death penalty," Moye said. "It's a very sad day." Hopes of a reprieve dimmed dramatically on Monday when Georgia's Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected arguments that the death sentence should be commuted because Housel reportedly suffered from brain damage and a psychosis induced by hypoglycemia at the time of his crime. Georgia rarely grants clemency in death row cases without some mitigating factor, such as mental illness. The state has granted clemency to only a handful of death row inmates since the death penalty was restored in the 1970s.

Housel pleaded guilty to Drew's murder in 1986. According to court testimony, the murder was the culmination of a nationwide crime spree. Housel also allegedly raped and killed a man in Texas, slashed another man's throat in Iowa and sexually assaulted a woman in New Jersey. He was not prosecuted for the other alleged crimes after his conviction for Drew's murder. Housel said he was not fully responsible for Drew's murder because of brain injuries supposedly suffered from falls and a car accident during childhood. Housel's former lawyer also admitted he made grievous mistakes at the 1986 trial and sentencing. It is common in U.S. death penalty appeals for lawyers to argue a client received incompetent legal representation at trial.

Associated Press (Tue Mar 12, 8:37 PM ET)

"Georgia Executes British-American," by Barnini Chakraborty.

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) - Ignoring pleas from Great Britain, Georgia executed a dual British-American citizen Tuesday night for raping and murdering a woman 17 years ago. Before he was given a lethal injection, Tracy Lee Housel apologized and told his friends and family, "Take care of yourselves. May God be with you all."

Housel, who was born in the British territory of Bermuda, admitted picking up Jean Drew, 46, at a suburban Atlanta truck stop in 1985, then raping her and bashing her head. During his sentencing hearing, Housel also admitted beating a Texas truck driver to death with a hammer and stabbing an Iowa man.

The execution drew intense media interest in Great Britain, which abandoned capital punishment 40 years ago. Prime Minister Tony Blair had asked Georgia's parole board to commute Housel's sentence to life in prison. The Law Society, representing lawyers in England and Wales, also wrote to the parole board, and members of the British Parliament signed a motion calling for Housel's sentence to be commuted. The Georgia parole board turned down Housel's plea for mercy Monday. There has never been any question that Housel committed the crime, but his lawyers argued his initial trial was unfair and his court-appointed attorney inexperienced. Under his lawyer's advice, Housel pleaded guilty and his defense at the sentencing trial lasted less than 30 minutes.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (3.11.2002)

European Appeals Fail to Halt Housel Execution," by Rhonda Cook.

Despite the pleas of diplomats from five European countries, including a member of England's Parliament and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the state Board of Pardons and Paroles refused to stop today's planned execution of Tracy Housel. Unless a court steps in, Housel today will become the sixth person in Georgia put to death by lethal injection since Oct. 25.

Housel is scheduled to die at 7 p.m. for the 1985 murder of Jean Drew, a woman he met at a Gwinnett County truck stop during the early morning hours of Easter Sunday. He pleaded guilty to Drew's murder and has admitted to as many as 17 slayings, though the victims' names are not all known and he was not tried in any since he already was under a death sentence in Georgia.

While his looming execution has received relatively little notice in this state, it is a top news story in England, where he holds dual citizenship because he was born in Bermuda, a British territory. The BBC has sent 10 reporters, photographers and producers here and several London newspapers also have sent correspondents to Georgia. "There is a ghoulish fascination with the death penalty and certainly with America," said BBC online reporter Jonathan Duffy. For almost two hours Monday, the five-member board met with more than a dozen people who wanted Housel spared, including diplomats from the European Union countries England, France, Germany, Belgium and Greece; a member of the British Parliament and Sister Helen Prejean, a nun who works with death row inmates and author of the book "Dead Man Walking." Letters from Blair and the archbishop of Canterbury were presented.

Last month, the EU protested the scheduled lethal injection of Alexander Williams, whose death sentence the parole board later commuted. Housel lived in Bermuda only as a baby, but still Britain sees him as one of theirs and so they have tried to play on the friendship between the two countries. "Friends don't execute their friends," said Clive Stafford Smith, one of Housel's attorneys. England abandoned capital punishment 40 years ago. Eighty-six countries, including the United States, have the death penalty.

Housel's lawyers argued the pardons board should spare Housel because the jury that sentenced him did not know that he suffered several head injuries as a child and was hypoglycemic and could not be held responsible for anything he did when his blood sugar was low. His backers say he has changed . "Years of confinement have created a man of reflection," Sister Prejean said. "Granted [he is] a man who has done a terrible crime.. . . But do we have to freeze-frame him in that time?"

Los Angeles Times (03/11/2002) "Britain Seeks to Halt Georgia Execution," by Henry Weinstein.

Diplomacy:A forceful movement hopes to have the dual citizen's sentence commuted. His guilt is beyond doubt. - British leaders are waging an unusually strong campaign to convince Georgia state officials to spare the life of a British citizen who is scheduled to be executed Tuesday for a 1985 murder. The guilt of Tracy L. Housel--sentenced to death for killing Jeanne Drew, whom he met at a truck stop northeast of Atlanta--is not in question. The doubts are about his mental health at the time of the murder, as well as his legal defense. The case "has haunted me for years," confessed his former lawyer, Walter M. Britt.

Although Britain, like all other western European countries, has outlawed the death penalty, the Housel case marks the first time that government officials have weighed in on behalf of a British citizen on death row in the U.S. British Foreign Minister Jack Straw has called Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, the British ambassador has called the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles and more than 100 members of Parliament say they favor clemency for Housel, who is one of four British nationals on death row in the U.S. Vera Baird, a member of Parliament and the Queens Council, plans to speak on Housel's behalf today when the parole board holds a hearing on Housel's clemency bid. "I will be bringing a letter from the prime minister [Tony Blair] showing that he wishes the sentence to be commuted" to life without possibility of parole, Baird said over the weekend.

The five-member board has the sole power to commute a death sentence in Georgia. The case has not generated much attention in this country, but it has been covered extensively in the British press. On Thursday, death penalty opponents demonstrated outside 10 Downing Street urging Blair to weigh in, as Mexican President Vicente Fox did on behalf of a Mexican national facing the death penalty last year in Oklahoma. That man's sentence was commuted to life. The British government's support for Housel represents a new step in that country's opposition to the death penalty, said Clive Stafford-Smith, a New Orleans-based attorney who specializes in death penalty appeals and is a British native.

In 1995, Stafford-Smith and others failed to persuade then-Prime Minister John Major to intervene on behalf of Nick Ingram, a convicted murderer who was executed in Georgia. Ingram, who like Housel had dual British and U.S. citizenship, is the only Briton who has been executed in the U.S. since the federal government reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The initiative comes at a time of growing ferment against the death penalty in various parts of the world, particularly Western Europe; countries are not admitted into the European Union if they have the death penalty. Britain is one of 75 nations that has abolished capital punishment for all crimes; 109 countries around the world have either banned the death penalty or have ceased using it. There are 118 foreign nationals from 33 countries on U.S. death rows.

A Hope for Compassion

"We are not asking anyone to forgive Tracy, just to show some compassion," said Stafford-Smith, who also will speak to the pardon board today. "He would spend the rest of his life in prison if we succeed." Also protesting the pending execution are Amnesty International, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and Sister Helen Prejean, the noted death penalty foe. She also plans to speak on Housel's behalf today.

But Gwinnett County prosecutors, who during a 1986 trial described Housel as a predator who "deserves no mercy," firmly assert that he should die for his crimes. Gwinnett County Dist. Atty. Danny Porter described Housel as a calculating killer. "He's like Ted Bundy," Porter said, referring to the Florida serial killer executed in 1989 for murdering eight women. "He's charming and smart. If you met him at a truck stop, you'd take him home to meet your sister and then he'd kill her," he said.

Through his attorneys, Housel, now 43, has expressed remorse for murdering Drew. His murder conviction and death sentence have been upheld by the Georgia Supreme Court twice, a federal district court in Atlanta and the federal appeals court there. The U.S. Supreme Court has twice declined to review the case, most recently in February.

Appellate attorneys Robert L. McGlasson and Mary Elizabeth Wells contend Housel should be given clemency because he had a serious mental defect at the time of the crime and received constitutionally deficient representation from a court-appointed lawyer who was trying his first capital murder case. The attorney, Britt, decided that the case against Housel was strong and encouraged him to plead guilty. Such a plea is generally accompanied by a promise from prosecutors not to seek the death penalty, but not in this case. Housel had been charged with murdering Drew, raping her, stealing her car and using her credit cards. Prosecutors dropped the rape charge in exchange for the guilty plea, a deal that yielded no benefit to Housel.

During the penalty phase, Britt mounted a skimpy presentation, calling only three witnesses and taking only 30 minutes, according to court documents. Years after the trial, new lawyers were appointed to represent Housel and discovered he was abused as a child and suffers from severe hypoglycemia, a blood sugar imbalance that, if left untreated, can render a person psychotic, according to experts retained by the defense. In the federal district court appeal, Dr. Buris Boshell, an endocrinology expert, testified that Housel "underwent an acute state of hypoglycemia, exacerbated by alcohol, at the time of the crime." "When in the throes of a hypoglycemic episode, as [Housel] was at the time of this crime, Mr. Housel did not have the mental capacity to distinguish between right and wrong," he said.

The district attorney scoffed at the suggestion. "Most people who have hypoglycemia eat a candy bar; they don't rape and murder," Porter said. Two other mental health experts who examined Housel for the hearing concluded that he "suffers from brain damage and severe psychological impairments," according to a recent defense brief.

Housel, who was born in the British territory of Bermuda, spent a good deal of his youth living in poverty in Rhode Island. He was frequently beaten by his father and neglected by his mother, who married at age 14 and was an alcoholic, according to court testimony. Housel also suffered several head injuries that went untreated because his father did not believe in doctors, according to testimony. But Britt did not learn any of this when representing Housel. In fact, both Housel and his mother testified during the trial's penalty phase that he had a "normal" upbringing. Britt acknowledged that he provided an inadequate defense. "I have to live with the fact that I helped to put my client on death row. If I had known then what I know now, I would never have advised Mr. Housel to plead guilty," Britt said.

He believes that if the evidence of Housel's mental problems had been presented to the jury, his client would not have been convicted of capital murder. "Even if we did not prevail at trial, it would have provided the jury with a reason to spare Tracy's life." But a federal trial judge and the federal appeals court have rejected arguments that Britt's performance was constitutionally deficient. "A failure to investigate [the client's background] is not a unique category of counsel omission that automatically satisfies" the Supreme Court test for ineffective counsel, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year.

Jury Heard Allegations

Once Britt was told that Housel's upbringing was normal, the attorney could reasonably have decided to investigate no further, the appeals court said. Housel's backers also contend that his rights were violated during the trial's penalty phase because prosecutors told jurors about other crimes Housel allegedly was involved in--including a murder in Texas and assaults in Iowa and New Jersey--even though he was not charged in those crimes.

Under Georgia law, prosecutors may present evidence of unadjudicated offenses during the penalty phase of a capital murder trial. Georgia and Texas have the loosest standards in the nation permitting such evidence during sentencing. In California, a jury is permitted to consider it only if the jury finds beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed that offense. Last year, in a ruling stemming from a Texas case, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights concluded that it is a violation of human rights to introduce such evidence. That decision is not binding on any U.S. court. Housel's attorneys claim that the introduction of the unadjudicated offenses, which were a central component of the prosecution's evidence in the penalty phase, violated the 8th Amendment's bar against cruel and unusual punishment. But the 11th Circuit Court declined last year to consider the merits of this argument.

Gwinnett Daily Post (03-06-2002)

"Housel Set to Die Next Tuesday," by Dyana Bagby.

LAWRENCEVILLE - Tracy Housel, sentenced to death for killing a Lawrenceville woman in 1985, is set to die by lethal injection next Tuesday. If the execution takes place, he would be the first person convicted in Gwinnett to be put to death in more than 50 years. Walt Britt, the local attorney who was appointed just out of law school to defend Housel more than 16 years ago, readily admits today he made many mistakes at the trial and if Housel is executed, it would be "totally devastating." "My mistakes had a lot to do with putting Tracy Housel on death row," Britt said Tuesday. "I've never been inept, but there are certain things I didn't know to look for then that I do know now."

However, the lead investigator at the time, John Latty, now a colonel with the Gwinnett Police Department, says Housel is a sociopath and "cold-blooded killer" who forfeited his right to live when he strangled to death Jean Drew, a 46-year-old Lawrenceville mother, and left her body in a driveway. "I think it (the execution) should have taken place 15 years ago," Latty said Wednesday. "I think it's a travesty he's been able to sit on death row for so long." District Attorney Danny Porter puts it even more bluntly: "He is a serial killer who deserves to die."

Emotions are running high among those involved in this case, as they typically do in most death penalty cases. This case, especially for Gwinnett, is unusual, however, in that the British government is asking Georgia authorities to grant Housel clemency. A British national Born in the British-controlled Bermuda in 1958, Tracy Housel is a British citizen. In January 2001, the Foreign Office recognized Housel as such and, since then, the British government, including Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and members of Parliament, have been attempting to secure Housel clemency through phone calls and letters submitted to the state's parole board. Why? The United Kingdom opposes the death penalty. And Housel's case is not the only one the British government is involved in - there are four other British citizens on American death rows. But, as Housel's Atlanta and London attorneys continue to say, he did not receive a fair trial and that is the primary reason why he shouldn't be executed.

Housel, under Britt's advise, pleaded guilty to the 1985 murder of Jean Drew and in return a rape charge was dropped. Housel was also incriminated in another murder and two other crimes, committed during a crime spree across the country, but was never charged with the other alleged crimes. Prosecutors were, however, able to present to the jury his alleged involvement in these crimes which, said attorney Beth Wells of Atlanta's Federal Defense Program, is a violation of domestic as well as international law. "Georgia is one of only a very few states that allows this (presentation of evidence of other alleged crimes)," she said. "Mr. Britt objected to this" but he was overruled.

'Mistakes were made' Walt Britt has earned a reputation in Gwinnett as a tough defense attorney. Just recently, he was instrumental in getting all jury trials here halted for two months when, during a hearing for another death penalty client, he convinced a judge the county's management of the jury process was improper. The judge ruled the jury pool invalid and county officials just recently completed assorting a new pool; trials are expected to start back up next week. But, Britt readily admits today, he did not know how to handle such a serious case when he defended Housel in 1986, just five years after graduating from law school. Housel's trial was Britt's first capital case and he handled it alone at a time when the state didn't provide adequate funding and training for court-appointed attorneys, he said. "There was no adequate funding then and there's still none," he said. "There is an evolving standard, but it is a true injustice to subject the defendant, me and the whole system to such an unfair situation." Facts Britt and his current attorneys say should be considered as mitigating circumstances for Housel, that weren't considered during the sentencing, are:

He suffers from hypoglycemia, a condition of severe blood sugar imbalance. Since the trial, a medical expert has concluded that Housel had undergone an acute state of hypoglycemia, exacerbated by alcohol, at the time of the crime and would not have been able to distinguish right from wrong, to control his behavior, or to form intent necessary for first-degree murder. Two mental health experts state Housel suffers from brain damage and psychological impairment, which combined with his drug and alcohol abuse, impaired his ability to recognize the criminality of his conduct.

Housel was raised in abusive household in very impoverished conditions and didn't receive proper medical care as a child. "I didn't present a lot of things that I should've presented," he said. "He has a history of abuse by his father and there is medical evidence of brain damage. I didn't discover this then, but now I know what to look for. It would be a whole different type of trial if I knew what I know now." Over the years, Britt has continued to stay in touch with Housel and is working with his current attorneys to try get him clemency. He plans to visit Housel today. Britt is also vehemently opposed to the death penalty. "I'm opposed to it ethically, morally and for religious purposes. I get personally involved in all my cases and this is totally devastating," he said.

Housel is an 'enigma' Col. John Latty remembers Housel's crime "vividly." Jean Dellinger Drew, 46, a woman Housel met an Interstate 85 truck stop near Gwinnett Place Mall on April 7, 1985 was found dead; she had been robbed, raped, strangled and beaten in the head with a blunt instrument. "He murdered for pleasure. The woman he killed here had a son and other family - they're still victims and this long wait has been exceedingly painful for them," he said. Latty said Housel confessed to a total of 17 murders and a host of other crimes. During the year he was in jail at the Gwinnett Detention Center, Housel would call Latty regularly to discuss these other crimes. All he wanted was a Burger King Whopper and non-filtered cigarettes. "So we would give him a Whopper and cigarettes and he would tell us just enough to whet our appetites," Latty remembered. Sometimes the information Housel gave Latty, such as a truck hijacking, would be true and law enforcement officials in another state could close a case. "I always considered him an enigma - he's like two different people," Latty said. "He's sociopathic. He can be interesting and charming, personable and social, but he is a cold-blooded killer."

Latty visited Housel in jail just last Wednesday, shortly after he had his death warrant read to him. Latty asked him for information about the 15 other murders he said he committed - he hopes to get information to close more cases before Housel dies. Housel said he couldn't discuss the case, but the two men talked for nearly an hour about "old times," Latty said. "He asked about all the detectives (that worked his case), he remembered all their names. He asked about my career," he said. "He said he was prepared to die. He hated to die on March 12, but he had asked for forgiveness and was prepared. It was more of a personal conversation," said Latty. "I harbor no hatred toward Tracy Housel, but it's the law. He killed for pleasure."

A clemency hearing is set for Monday morning in Atlanta and at a press conference set to take place before the hearing, Sister Helen Prejean, the author of Dead Man Walking, and Vera Baird, a member of the British Parliament, will speak out on Housel's behalf.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Sunday, March 10, 2002)

"On Death Row, a Final Plea for Victim Names," by Carlos Frias.

As time runs out for convicted murderer Tracy Lee Housel, 43, it runs out as well for Gwinnett County police Col. John Latty. Sixteen years ago, Housel confessed to Latty something that has haunted him. A one-word answer to an enormous question. "How many murders have you committed?" Latty asked Housel in February 1986. It was days before a jury would sentence Housel to death row for the beating death of Lawrenceville resident Jean Drew in April of 1985. "Just give me a number," Latty insisted. "Seventeen," Housel said. Seventeen victims. Fourteen have not been identified. Fourteen families wonder what happened to their sons or daughters, fathers or mothers. That number has stayed with Latty, just as the identities of those victims have remained in Housel's head.

With two days remaining before Housel's execution by lethal injection, scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Latty has asked Housel one final question: Will he write down the names of his victims and instruct his lawyers to give the list to police after his execution? It's Housel's last chance to give those families peace, Latty told him when they spoke on Jan. 27, shortly after a judge signed Housel's death warrant. It was the first time Latty and Housel had spoken since the 1986 trial. But Housel, who went on a violent cross-country crime spree that included the beating death of an Orange County, Texas, trucker, believes he may be able to escape execution.

The British government is working to commute his death sentence, since he was born in the British territory of Bermuda, and the United Kingdom does not condone the death penalty. If his sentence is commuted at a hearing Monday, Housel knows he could face a death penalty trial in at least one other state. Still, Housel told Latty he would consider his request. Now Latty can only wait. "I've done all I can do," Latty said. "It's on him now."

The Gwinnett victim

Sometimes, Jean Drew just needed to hear friendly voices. She spent her days caring for her elderly mother, who suffered from Alzheimer's, and Drew needed some social interaction. Back in 1985, when Gwinnett was mostly undeveloped, there wasn't much to do on a Saturday night in Lawrenceville. Usually, after her mother took her medication and went to sleep, Jean had the evening to herself. So, when she couldn't go ballroom dancing with friends, she would go to the diner at the Union 76 Auto-Truck Stop near I-85 and Pleasant Hill Road.

On the night of April 6, 1985, a waitress and several customers remember Drew sitting with a young truck driver, laughing and chatting. The two drove off together in the wee hours of April 7 --- Easter Sunday --- in her 1981 silver Ford Mustang. Drew stood out because she was a regular. Housel stood out because of the jewelry he was wearing. One waitress clearly remembered a gaudy ring she saw on one of the young man's hands. Later that morning, police found the same ring next to the lifeless, battered body of Carolyn Jean Dellinger Drew.

When the call came John Latty was preparing to serve communion at Calvary Baptist Church in Gainesville when Tracy Lee Housel's crime spree came to Georgia. Someone motioned to him from the wings; it was police headquarters calling. There had been a homicide. And the deacon took up the badge and gun of his other life, investigator for the Gwinnett County police. Latty drove from Hall County to what now would be the bustling commuters' alley between Beaver Ruin and Indian Trail roads near I-85. Even today, he remembers all the sights and smells from that morning.

"I remember the temperature --- 66 degrees," Latty recalled last week. "Beautiful, beautiful, day." He looked out at what are now rows of apartments, and saw only this abandoned old farmstead. A rickety country home. An old smokehouse. A weathered barn. And behind it, the ravaged body of a middle-aged woman. Purple strangulation marks encircled her neck. Her head and face had been beaten with a blunt weapon. She had been raped. She was unrecognizable. But in rare cases, police get a flood of information.

Two men driving by had seen a silver Mustang leaving that farm early in the morning. Employees from the truck stop diner described Housel "down to the jewelry he was wearing," Latty remembers. Dental records matched a missing-person report that came in at 5 a.m. that day. It was Jean Drew. Gwinnett police sent out the description of the suspect to police departments across the nation. Six days later, Daytona Beach police spotted a man fitting the description driving a 1981 silver Mustang. It was Tracy Lee Housel. And by the time they were done interviewing him, police had his taped confession to the murder of Jean Drew. But it was what he went on to say that had police departments from across the country sending detectives to Gwinnett County.

'A bad hombre'- Tracy Lee Housel doesn't admit to his crimes; he boasts about them. That's what Latty was counting on during the year he spent interviewing Housel at the Gwinnett County jail. Housel wanted to command attention, just as an FBI personality assessment said he would. The same report also said he was sociopathic, an experienced killer, and self-hating for having homosexual urges. So, Housel claimed he had been a cowboy, a cross-country truck driver, a biker gang member. "He went to great lengths to project a macho image," Latty said. "He was very proud of what he did," Latty said. "He wanted people to know he was a bad hombre, for sure." That's why, when Daytona Beach police confronted him about the murder charge in Gwinnett, he confessed the crime. When they told him they had warrants from Cass County, Iowa, he told them he killed a man there, as well. Except the man he attacked in Iowa survived and went on to testify that Housel stabbed, beat him and left him for dead. Police learned that in a span of six weeks, Housel had gone on a crime spree in at least four states.

It started with the slaying of a truck driver in Texas on Feb. 20, 1985. Police reports say the driver was sodomized and bludgeoned with a hammer. On March 31, he attacked the Iowa man. Three days later, he raped and tried to kill a New Jersey woman. And on April 7, he killed Drew. Housel pleaded guilty to murdering Drew in a deal with the prosecution that he hoped would spare him from the death penalty. But before his sentencing trial, Latty met with Housel again. This time, Housel was "very emotional," as he faced the real possibility of execution. Latty just wanted to know how many slayings there had been. Housel's usual braggart's facade faded. His eyes filled with tears. His chin quivered as he told Latty: "Seventeen," through a cracking voice. "He was very believable at that moment," Latty said. "I think that's more than I expected to hear."

Just last year, investigators from the Los Angeles police met with Latty and were able to close the case of a murdered transvestite in 1985. They matched Housel --- who was living in California before his arrest --- to the crime. California prosecutors did not go ahead with a trial since Housel was already on Georgia's death row.

Death penalty disputed

On April 7, 1995, the state of Georgia executed Nicholas Lee Ingram, despite opposition from the British government. Ingram held dual citizenship with England and the United States, as does Tracy Lee Housel. A representative of the United Kingdom, which does not use the death penalty, is appealing to the state Pardons and Parole Board to spare Housel's life. Sister Helen Prejean, author of the book "Dead Man Walking," will speak at the clemency hearing Monday.

The British government, as well as Housel's trial attorney, Walt Britt, contend Britt was not qualified to handle the death penalty case. Britt, a respected Gwinnett County defense attorney, said he was just five years out of law school and made crucial errors in the case. "There were very few people in the state of Georgia that had actual experience defending a death penalty case," Britt said. Current Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said Britain is wrongly meddling in the state's affairs. "Tracy Housel is a serial killer," he said.

At their meeting on Jan. 27, Latty said Housel had not changed radically in 15 years. He still liked to keep his mustache trimmed, his hair smoothed and neat. And he loved to talk about himself. As always. Even though his attorneys ordered him to keep his mouth shut, especially to the cop whose work helped put him on death row, Housel welcomed the visit. The two talked for about 15 minutes and, mostly, Housel asked Latty about old prison guards and other detectives who worked on his case. "It was like we picked up where we left off. It's like all those years hadn't passed," Latty said. Before Housel was taken back to his cell, Latty made his final plea for the names. As if in his deacon's role, he talked to Housel about doing the right thing for once in his life. About giving those families peace. "I feel it's my duty to help those people," Latty said.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (02.27.2002)

"State Seeks Next Death Warrant," by Rhonda Cook.

Just two days after the execution of Alexander Williams was called off, the state is expected to begin preparing to put to death another convicted killer. While the new case is expected to draw international attention, it may not be on the same scale as the Williams case, which saw letters of protest from the European Union and Amnesty International. Weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear the appeal of Tracy Housel, Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter, the state Board of Pardons and Paroles and other state agencies took calls and letters from the British government and British citizens insisting that Housel be spared. Housel holds dual citizenship with the United States and England, which does not have the death penalty. Porter said he would ask today that a death warrant be signed in the case, setting the time of his execution during the week of March 12. Once a death warrant is signed, the Department of Corrections sets the actual date and time.

If executed, Housel, 43, would be the sixth person put to death by lethal injection since Georgia switched to that method in October. Housel pleaded guilty to murdering Jean Drew, a woman he met at a Lawrenceville truck stop early on April 7, 1985. It was during his sentencing trial that he was implicated in a murder in Texas and assaults in Iowa and New Jersey.

According to trial testimony, Housel was a 26-year-old drifter when he met Drew in the restaurant of the truck stop. They had dinner and then left in her car for a secluded place to have sexual intercourse. It was there, in some woods near Indian Trail Road and Beaver Ruin Road, that Housel strangled her, beat her with a piece of wood and left her body, which was found later that day. Housel was caught in Daytona Beach, Fla., driving her car and using her credit cards, but he also had a Social Security card belonging to a truck driver found dead in Texas. Prosecutors in Texas have said they would bring Housel to trial if he escaped the death penalty in Georgia.

The British Consulate General in Atlanta has met with parole board officials. Jack Straw, secretary of state for foreign and Commonwealth affairs in London, has written board Chairman Walter Ray. "The British government fully shares Georgia's desire to punish violent criminals and recognizes the need for severe penalties," Straw wrote. "We are not, however, persuaded that the death penalty is an appropriate punishment or deterrent. The United Kingdom is against the use of the death penalty in all circumstances and is committed to work for its abolition." Porter dismissed the efforts and criticized Britons for getting involved in "the internal affairs of the state of Georgia" despite the facts of the case. "Tracy Housel is a serial killer," Porter said.

Tracy Housel Homepage

BRITON ON DEATH ROW - Tracy Housel is a 42 year-old British citizen facing execution by lethal injection in Georgia. During his time on death row he was held in solitary confinement for three months and was often beaten, sometimes with an electric cattle prod. He has just lost his final appeal in the US Supreme Court, which means that his only hope lies with the Georgia Pardons and Parole Board.

Tracy has since had an execution date set. Without clemency or intervention by the British Government Tracy will be executed sometime between March 12th- 19th Amnesty are organising a demonstration in support of Tracy Housel - please go along and show your support on Thursday March 7th, 11am, outside Downing Street This site is intended to serve as a resource for journalists and interested members of the public

TRACY'S BIOGRAPHY

Tracy Housel was born in King Edwards VII Memorial Hospital, Paget, Bermuda at 11.45 am on May 7th 1958. Housel's parents, William Franklin Housel and Lula Mae Elkins Housel, lived in Bermuda at the time of his birth. Lula was fourteen years old when she married Tracy's father, Bill, who was forty three. She came from an impoverished background in North Carolina and had a family with a long history of health problems, including diabetes and low blood sugar. Lula herself suffered from severe arthritis and low blood sugar. They were American civilians and Housel's father was employed at the Kindley Air Force Base as a sheet metal worker. At that time Bermuda was in British possession. On February 1st, 2001, the Foreign Office confirmed Tracy was born and remains a British national. The family left Bermuda about a year after their son's birth.

Childhood

His childhood was spent in impoverished circumstances in North Carolina and Columbia Heights, Rhode Island, a ruined former mill town.The mill had moved out, and when Tracy was a child, the neighborhood was nothing more than a "white ghetto." The Housel family was among the poorest in the area. Children as young as ten were often seen out on their own late at night with no parental supervision. Tracy was no exception. Drugs and alcohol were prevalent among children and adults. As a child, Tracy was affected byserious illness and injury . He suffered constant headaches and fevers, for which his father - who 'did not believe' in doctors - refused to seek medical help.

Tracy's Parents

Lula was a well-known alcoholic throughout Tracy's childhood. A co-worker described how she drank straight alcohol from a thermos and got drunk at work. Lula would often show up at the Legion Hall drunk, and would frequently be asked to leave, or carried out. Bill Housel, also an alcoholic, was violent toward Lula. They argued with each other at the Legion Hall, often elevating into fist fights.Witnesses at Housel's appeals described how Tracy would try to end their fights, only to find both parents turn their anger on him. After one such incident when he was 14, he ran to the home of one of Lula's friends. When she called his mother, Lula responded: 'If you've got him, you can f**king keep him. Come get his s**t.' He ended up staying for three months, and soon after his return, left home for good. Tracy's father Bill had a reputation for unpredictable violence. He frequently hit his children in the head and face with his hands, and often beat them with a belt. Tracy and his brothers often came to school with black eyes, broken noses and bruises. One neighbor recounted a time when another young neighborhood boy hit one of the Housel children; Bill chased the child, caught him, and beat him.

At School

Despite such horrendous home circumstances, Tracy was obedient and well behaved at school. Teachers were well aware of his poverty. They describe him as a troubled child, but not a troublemaker. His sixth grade math teacher said he was an over-achiever for his social situation and was impressed by Tracy's efforts These teachers also testified, however, that Tracy was in need of special help and attention because of his troubled home life. Katherine Caroselli, who was both a teacher and a trained social worker, testified that although never disrespectful, Tracy just "wasn't there" in school. Irene Hutton testified how Tracy was unfocused and unable to concentrate on his schoolwork. She said that although he was quiet and never said much in class, "his sad eyes spoke a lot."

As an Adult

In the early 1980s, Housel moved to Iowa, where he formed a relationship with a widow, Robin Banks. Most of the time he was relaxed and easy-going, and acted as a loving father to her children. But he was also prone to sudden mood swings, when he would fail to eat for days on end, drink and take drugs.

MEDICAL HISTORY

Tracy has a history of hypopglycemia, an endocrine discorder, which was untreated at the time of the alleged crime, and not mentioned in the trial. On Tracy's hypoglycemia (an abnormally large amount of sugar in the blood), US-based human rights lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith has said: "It certainly would have affected him, particularly because of allegations of alcohol involved [in the case]." Mr. Smith has also said: "It is very unlikely [in consideration, of his medical condition] that he could have been convicted of murder [rather than manslaughter] under British law. America does not recognize 'diminished capacity,' which is one of the reasons that Europe will not deport people back [to the U.S.] to face capital charges."

Childhood Trauma

Tracy was born a month premature and weighed only 3.5 pounds. He remained in an incubator after Lula's discharge from the hospital. Tracy was sickly from birth and suffered such bad health that the family moved to North Carolina. . Tracy's childhood, spent in impoverished circumstances in North Carolina and Columbia Heights, Rhode Island, a ruined former mill town, was marked by serious illness and injury. He suffered constant headaches and fevers (one of 105 degrees), for which his father - who 'did not believe' in doctors - refused to seek medical help. At the age of seven, he fell off a roof and was knocked unconscious. Badly concussed, his pupils were dilated for several days. Later he was concussed again when another child attacked him with a baseball bat. Finally, at the age of 11, he sustained brain damage after losing consciousness again in a car crash. It was not until years after Housel's trial that his appeal lawyers, Beth Wells and Robert McGlasson, had him examined by two mental health experts and several leading neuro-physicians. They later testified that he suffered from an extreme form of hypoglycaemia, which made him prone to periods when he would lose control of his actions and became unable to distinguish right from wrong. They added that all the available evidence suggested it was during such a psychotic episode that he committed the crime for which he was sentenced to death.

TRACY'S CASE

Tracy is on Death Row in Georgia. He was convicted of the death of a woman he is alleged to have picked up from a truck stop. In 1985 he was sentenced to death by electrocution. This was the only crime with which he was charged. However, the jury, which had to decide if he should live or die, heard details of other alleged offences, although his guilt had not been established. Earlier, detectives had repeatedly interrogated him about them as he awaited trial in the Gwinnett County jail. After seeking advice from the FBI, they decided to hold these interviews at night. In the jail, he was held in solitary confinement, denied showers and exercise for more than three months, and 'punished' with an electric stun gun, at least once - according to evidence from his fellow prisoners - while standing in water, in order to intensify the pain. Tracy's trial lawyer, was recently qualified, and had never handled a murder case. In later appeal hearings, he admitted he made no attempt to ascertain the facts of Tracy's abusive background, nor his medical state. As a child Tracy sustained severe head injuries and has a medical condition that leaves him prone to black outs. In advising him to plead guilty, he had deprived him of a possible defence of insanity; had he known the full facts, Brit said, he would never have given such advice.

Tracy's Appeal

There were two main grounds to Tracy's recent unsuccessful appeal to the 11th Federal Circuit Court: that he had been deprived of his constitutional right to effective legal counsel; and that, by adducing evidence of crimes which were unproved, the prosecution deprived him of a fair hearing over whether he should get life or death, rendering his execution a cruel and unusual punishment. On 18 January the three appeal judges, led by a keen advocate of the death penalty, rejected all Tracy's arguments. He should go to the electric chair. Although Tracy has a final recourse to the US Supreme Court, it is extremely rare for this court to prevent an execution.

Links to documents from the appeal: Brief of Appellant - Petition for a Writ of Certiorari

Support from the British Government

The British Foreign Office became involved in the case upon learning of Tracey's British nationality in January 2001. Lawyers acting for Tracy say the tougher stance adopted by the British Government represents an important step forward. Until now the Foreign Office has refused to intervene in American death penalty cases until all judicial avenues have been exhausted. Tracy's lawyers, Hugh Southey, a barrister at Michael Mansfield's chambers in London, and Yasmine Waljee, a solicitor at the London City law firm Lovells, have had urgent meetings with Foreign Office officials to try to get the Government to take unprecedented steps to save their client's life. The lawyers and the Foreign Office have been working closely with the US-based British barrister Clive Stafford-Smith, a renowned champion of human rights, particularly in death penalty cases, and Reprieve , a British charity who aim to provide effective legal representation and humanitarian assistance to impoverished people that face the death penalty in the USA and Caribbean.

In February, the Foreign Office said that before its lawyers formally intervened in the cases it would continue to use diplomatic channels to help to secure a reprieve for both men. "We are to make diplomatic representations on behalf of Housel" the spokeswoman said. Andie Lambe, UK director of Reprieve, described the Government's involvement as "an historic step forward" that not only granted UK recognition to British-American Death Row inmates but also gave diplomatic force to the campaign to keep the men alive. A top London law firm will shortly be writing an Amicus brief on behalf of Tracy and Reprieve will be passing it to Parliament for signatures.

ABOLISH Archives (London Observer, February 4, 2002)

GEORGIA: Sick Briton Set for US Execution.

Tracy Housel has spent 15 years on death row for murder. Campaigners argue that brain damage and a rare disease contributed to the crime. Now they have learnt Housel is British, and are pressing Robin Cook to intervene Behind the ramparts and razor wire of the Georgia Diagnostic Prison 40 miles south of Atlanta, a brain-damaged, mentally ill Briton waits on death row. A last and probably hopeless appeal to the US Supreme Court is all that stands between him and the electric chair.

Tracy Housel, 42, was persuaded to plead guilty to murder by his lawyer, Walt Brit. The jury that sentenced him to death in 1985 heard nothing about his catastrophic childhood, when he sustained severe head injuries, nor a rare medical condition which made him prone to blackouts and out-of-character psychotic rages. It was also unaware that when Housel was being interrogated by police, he was being held in inhumane conditions, and repeatedly assaulted with an electric prod.

Despite his long incarceration, it was only last week that the Foreign Office confirmed Housel was born and remains a British national. In an email to Clive Stafford-Smith, the New Orleans-based British lawyer, Mike Tiney, a senior Consular Department official, said: 'We will be seeking advice from the Consul-General in Atlanta as to whether representations should be made at this time, and if so to whom.' The disclosure of Housel's plight and British nationality will add to Foreign Secretary Robin Cook's difficulties in attempting to maintain the 'special relationship' with the United States as he travels to Washington this week to meet the new President, George W. Bush. Cook opposes the death penalty as passionately as Bush has espoused and enacted it. In his 6 years as Governor of Texas, Bush was responsible for 139 executions, far more than any governor in American history. Cook is certain to come under heavy pressure from human rights groups to raise the case of Housel at their meeting.

Housel is British by virtue of his birth at the King Edward VII hospital in Bermuda, where his parents were working and where he spent his infancy. His mother, Lula, who came from a dirt-poor background in North Carolina, was only 14 when she married Bill Housel, who was 43. Tracy was born the following year. His childhood, spent in impoverished circumstances in North Carolina and Columbia Heights, Rhode Island, a ruined former mill town, was marked by serious illness and injury. He suffered constant headaches and fevers, for which his father - who 'did not believe' in doctors - refused to seek medical help. At the age of seven, he fell off a roof and was knocked unconscious. Badly concussed, his pupils were dilated for several days. Later he was concussed again when another child attacked him with a baseball bat. Finally, at the age of 11, he sustained brain damage after losing consciousness again in a car crash.

Meanwhile, Bill and Lula became abusive alcoholics. Witnesses at Housel's appeals described how Tracy would try to end their fist-fights, only to find both parents turn their anger on him. After one such incident when he was 14, he ran to the home of one of Lula's friends. When she called his mother, Lula responded: 'If you've got him, you can fucking keep him. Come get his shit.' He ended up staying for 3 months, and soon after his return, left home for good. In the early 1980s, Housel moved to Iowa, where he formed a relationship with a widow, Robin Banks. Most of the time he was relaxed and easy-going, and acted as a loving father to her children. But he was also prone to sudden mood swings, when he would fail to eat for days on end and drink and take drugs.

It was not until years after Housel's trial that his appeal lawyers, Beth Wells and Robert McGlasson, had him examined by two mental health experts and several leading neuro-physicians. They later testified that he suffered from an extreme form of an endocrine disorder, hypoglycaemia, which made him prone to periods when he would lose control of his actions and became unable to distinguish right from wrong. They added that all the available evidence suggested it was during such a psychotic episode that he committed the crime for which he was sentenced to death.

Aside from a single conviction for soliciting a prostitute, he had no criminal record when in early 1985, following the break-up of his relationship, he embarked on a violent two-week odyssey across the United States. Police claimed he was responsible for a catalogue of heinous crimes during this fortnight: a near-fatal knife assault on a man in Iowa; raping and cudgeling a man to death in Texas; forcing a woman to perform oral sex in New Jersey; and finally, the beating and fatal strangling of Jean Drew in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Housel was eventually arrested for her murder in Florida, when he tried to use her credit card to buy a cowboy outfit. He confessed to the killing, saying they had consensual sex after he picked her up at an Atlanta truck-stop, but he had then become enraged and perpetrated his murderous attack.

This was the only crime with which he was charged. However, the jury, which had to decide if he should live or die, heard details of these other alleged offences, although his guilt had not been established. Earlier, detectives had repeatedly interrogated him about them as he awaited trial in the Gwinnett County jail. After seeking advice from the FBI, they decided to hold these interviews at night. In the jail, he was held in solitary confinement, denied showers and exercise for more than 3 months, and 'punished' with an electric stun gun, at least once - according to evidence from his fellow prisoners - while standing in water, in order to intensify the pain.

Housel's trial lawyer, Walt Brit, was recently qualified, and had never handled a murder case. In later appeal hearings, he admitted he made no attempt to ascertain the facts of Housel's abusive background, nor his medical state. In advising him to plead guilty, he had deprived him of a possible defence of insanity; had he known the full facts, Brit said, he would never have given such advice.

There were two main grounds to Housel's appeal to the 11th Federal Circuit Court: that he had been deprived of his constitutional right to effective legal counsel; and that, by adducing evidence of crimes which were unproved, the prosecution deprived him of a fair hearing over whether he should get life or death, rendering his execution a cruel and unusual punishment. On 18 January the three appeal judges, led by a keen advocate of the death penalty, rejected all Housel's arguments. He should go to the electric chair. Although Housel has a final recourse to the US Supreme Court, it is extremely rare for this court to prevent an execution.

As Cook may find himself telling Bush this week, the US Constitution, which the Supreme Court interprets, does not embody the principles embodied by Britain's Human Rights Act. Housel's lawyer, Robert McGlasson, said last night: 'Housel's case amounts to a human rights abuse of serious proportions. He did not get a fair trial. The British Government may well be his only hope.'

Cut on the Bias

LAST NIGHT TRACY HOUSEL DIED by lethal injection, in Georgia’s death chamber, with more attention from Britain and Europe than from the U.S.," by Susanna Cornett. But even that creates a false impression. A biography of Housel, on a site dedicated to having the death penalty stayed, makes it clear: "They (Housel's parents) were American civilians (his mother from North Carolina) and Housel's father was employed at the Kindley Air Force Base as a sheet metal worker. At that time Bermuda was in British possession. On February 1st, 2001, the Foreign Office confirmed Tracy was born and remains a British national. "The family left Bermuda about a year after their son's birth."

So Housel was born to American parents and lived all but one of his 43 years in the United States, but on that basis he was considered a British citizen by those who wanted to use his case as an opportunity for protest. And it was a sizable protest: The Guardian: "An extraordinary and unprecedented alliance of relatives, lawyers, campaigners, British politicians and European diplomats trooped into the board offices in Atlanta in a final attempt to save Housel's life." The BBC: "The Council of Europe's general secretary Walter Schwimmer said he "deeply deplored" the fact the US had refused to commute Housel's death sentence to a prison term."Once again, the USA has decided to go ahead with the death penalty, despite my own plea and those made by the United Kingdom, which, as a member of the Council of Europe, has already banned the death penalty." SkyNews (which refers to Housel as "Briton"): "Foreign Secretary Jack Straw phoned Georgia's governor in an unsuccessful bid to have the sentence commuted."

The reporters were aggrieved at Georgia's response, and put a spin on their reporting to get the point across: "They (the petitioners mentioned above) were armed with an indirect appeal from Tony Blair addressed to Vera Baird, the MP for Redcar. It did not impress the five-strong panel (the state parole board), who traditionally give no reasons for their decision. No voting figures were released. "The hearing was closed to the public and media but witnesses said the board members appeared to soften just once: when they were shown two christening gowns crocheted by Housel for his lawyer's twin babies."

And what was it that Housel did, anyway, to cause such hard-heartedness on Georgia's part, so hard that they were almost unmoved by hand-crocheted christening gowns? "Housel has admitted raping and strangling 46-year-old Jeanne Drew during a two-week homicidal spree in 1985... " "...and also allegedly raped and killed a man in Texas, slashed another man's throat in Iowa and sexually assaulted a woman in New Jersey."

The whole episode is a good example of how the media selects information and wording to advance certain causes. Fortunately, Georgia did know the whole truth, gave the protests the consideration they deserved, and responded, in my judgment, precisely right: "A board member, Dr Eugene Walker, heard the delegation of EU consular officials plead that execution was wrong, then said: "You know, you have strong sentiments against the death penalty. You've got to know we have strong sentiments for it and it's part of our law."" That's right. It's a part of our law, and it's not Britain's business, or Europe's, no matter how it's spun. "At 7:28 p.m., Housel became the sixth person Georgia has put to death by lethal injection."

Housel v. State, 355 S.E.2d 651 (Ga. 1987) (Direct Appeal).

This is a death penalty case. Appellant, Tracy Lee Housel, was indicted in Gwinnett County on charges of murder, rape, motor vehicle theft and three counts of financial-transaction-card theft. After a jury was selected, Housel pled guilty to murder and motor vehicle theft. The state did not pursue the remaining charges, but continued to seek the death penalty on the murder count. A jury trial was conducted on the question of sentence, and Housel was sentenced to death. He now appeals.

The crime occurred April 7, 1985. The defendant was indicted on June 4, 1985. The jury selection began January 28, 1986, and the jury reached its verdict on February 7, 1986. A motion for new trial was filed March 10, 1985. An amendment thereto was filed July 22. The motion was heard on August 1 and September 26, 1986, and was denied on the latter date. The case was docketed in this court on November 25, 1986, and was orally argued February 9, 1987.

Evidence was presented at the sentencing trial that, during a two-month period in early 1985, Housel killed a man in Texas, stabbed a man in Iowa, sodomized a woman in New Jersey, and, finally, killed the woman in Gwinnett County, Georgia, for whose murder the defendant received the death sentence in this case. Housel's pre-trial statements concerning these crimes were admitted in evidence. In addition, the surviving Iowa and New Jersey victims testified, as did law enforcement officers from Texas, Florida and Georgia.

Housel left his wife in California in October of 1984, his marriage having unraveled as a result of his "being on the road" all the time. A month later Housel began living with a woman in Council Bluffs, Iowa. In February, 1985, Housel was at a truck stop in Spring, Texas, "laid over trying to get a load." Housel stated, "We were all in our leathers, dressed more or less like a rowdy little bike club, just raising Hell and discontent." He met a man named Troy, who had a quantity of cocaine and was trying to sell it. Troy got drunk, and Housel helped him out to his truck and went back to the bar. He learned (he said) that "a couple of guys [were] planning on robbing [Troy] of all of his cocaine," but after he told them not to, they "left him alone." However, Housel himself "was wanting, I guess, a little bit more cocaine," so he climbed into Troy's cab "just [to] fix my nose again and go on about my business." Troy woke up and accused Housel of trying to steal his cocaine. When Troy grabbed him by the throat, Housel picked up a hammer and hit him on the head eight or nine times.

Housel took Troy's cocaine and a few other things, including a CB radio, a stereo, and Troy's identification, put them into his bag, and drove the truck to Beaumont, Texas, where he left it. He stated that Troy was still breathing when he left Spring, but that he died somewhere between Spring and Beaumont. Troy's body was found in the sleeper of his cab, seven miles from Beaumont, Texas, on February 20, 1985. He was nude from the waist down, and had been anally sodomized.

On March 29, 1985, Housel was back in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He met a man named Gary at a truck stop and asked him for a ride to Des Moines, where perhaps he could get a job. Gary told him he would take him as far as Atlantic, which was about halfway. They got into Gary's car and drove. Gary testified that when they reached the Atlantic exit, Housel pulled out a knife and told him to drive on. A couple of exits later, Housel told Gary to pull off the interstate and park. Then, Gary testified, Housel demanded his wallet, and stabbed him as he reached for it.

Housel stated that Gary made a gesture which he interpreted as a homosexual advance, and he "freaked;" he pulled out his knife and began stabbing him. Gary denied making any sexual advances. In any event, Gary got out of his car, and Housel pushed him down a ravine. When Gary climbed out, Housel stabbed him several more times and threw him back in. Gary had thrown away his keys, but Housel found a spare key in the console and drove the car to New Jersey. Credit card receipts found in Housel's belongings after he was arrested showed that he had used Gary's credit cards in Iowa, Illinois and Pennsylvania on March 30 and April 1.

On April 2, 1985, a young woman named Renee met Housel at the apartment of a friend of hers in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. Housel introduced himself as "Troy." About 11:30 p.m., Renee announced that she was going home. "Troy" (who Renee identified at trial as the defendant) offered to escort her to her car. Once there, Housel entered the car and began to strangle her, and then forced her to orally sodomize him. Telling her she was too nice to kill, he took all her money and left. Renee testified that she had marks on her neck from being strangled that did not finally disappear until late that summer. Next, Housel drove Gary's car to Spartanburg, South Carolina, where he abandoned it. He caught a ride from there to Lawrenceville, Georgia.

After "drinking all night," Housel met the victim in this case, Jean Drew, in the early morning hours of April 7, 1985, at a Lawrenceville truck stop. Housel said they had sex, and then went for a ride in her car, a silver-gray Mustang. They parked in an open area behind some woods, just off Beaver Ruin road in Gwinnett County. According to Housel, they were having sex again in the back seat of her car when he got the urge to spit. Unfortunately, his spit hit her window. She began yelling at him, and he lost his temper and began striking her with his fists. (There was blood all over the inside of the car when it was recovered.) They got out of the car. Her nose was bleeding, and she spit blood on him. Then he really hit her, and she fell "like a ton of bricks." He got on his knees and strangled her, and then he picked up a stick and beat her face to a "bloody pulp." Housel left her lying there, and drove her car to Daytona Beach, Florida, where, using her credit cards, he stayed several days prior to being arrested.

Jean Drew's body was found later that morning, nude from the waist down. Her head was "extensively traumatized and disfigured." There were "several lesions about the neck area," and there was "blood smeared on both hands." The pathologist who conducted the autopsy testified that the victim was still alive at the time of strangulation, and that the "[strangulation] force was fairly long in duration given the amount of ... contusion in the area of the neck ...; the [hyoid] bone ... was broken ... and there was digging of fingernails not just into the skin and left in place, but actually tearing through the skin which is another indication of a fair degree of struggle on the part of the decedent." Several of the victim's teeth had been knocked out. Her mouth was cut. Her skull was crushed in three places. The pathologist testified that because of the extensive trauma to the head, it was impossible to determine how many times the victim had been struck. Cause of death was "a combination of multiple head trauma and asphyxiation by strangulation."