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October 7, 2009

Payne execution set for Thursday

By Patrick McCreless The Cullman Times

CULLMAN — Preparations are under way for the Thursday execution of a Cullman man convicted in 1994 of kidnapping and murdering a local businessman.

Death row inmate Max Landon Payne, 38, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.

Alabama Department of Corrections Public Information Officer Brian Corbett said Payne has been moved to a holding cell near the execution chamber.

“It is standard procedure for the inmate in question to be moved from his death row cell to the cell adjacent to the lethal injection chamber on Tuesday before a Thursday execution,” Corbett said. “Payne will also be under 24-hour watch through Thursday.”

In addition, visitation hours for Payne were expanded to between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Corbett said.

The Alabama Supreme Court scheduled Payne’s execution for Oct. 8 back in August. Attorney General Troy King had requested the Supreme Court set a date because Payne had finished his appeals. The U.S. Supreme Court turned down Payne’s case in May.

Payne was convicted of kidnapping and brutally murdering former West Point Grocery (now West Point Superette) owner Braxton Brown, 58, on March 24, 1992.

On the day of the murder, Brown refused to sell gasoline on credit to Payne who, after leaving the business, returned shortly there after with a 12-gauge shotgun.

Payne then drove Brown around to several places at gunpoint before he took him to an isolated bridge over Crooked Creek and shot him in the face.

Payne was arrested a day after the murder at a bus station in Miami, Fla.

Evidence recovered during the investigation included Brown’s tissue in Payne’s vehicle and Payne’s shotgun. Several of Brown’s possessions were recovered from Payne during his arrest.

* Patrick McCreless can be reached by e-mail at patrickm@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 270.

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