Terre Haute, Ind.
A decorated Gulf War veteran was executed this week after the Supreme Court rejected his claim that exposure to Iraqi nerve gas damaged his brain. Louis Jones Jr., 53, kidnapped Pvt. Tracie Joy McBride, 19, from a Texas base in 1995, then raped her and beat her to death with a tire iron. His lawyers said they discovered after his trial that he and 130,000 other soldiers might have been exposed to low levels of sarin nerve gas when American troops destroyed an Iraqi weapons depot in March 1991. A doctor hired by Jones’ lawyers said the 22-year veteran went to war healthy and returned with brain damage. The victim’s sister, Stacie McBride, 24, called that a “meritless excuse,” and said Jones deserved to die by injection. “It’s not as bad as what Tracie went through.”
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