FLORENCE - Twenty-four years after brutally beating a disabled Tucson man and leaving him to die, Thomas Paul West was put to death via lethal injection this morning.
About 30 people witnessed the execution. None of his victim's family members were in attendance. Nor were relatives of West.
When the curtain to the execution room opened, West looked for his attorneys, gestured to them, then laid his head down and closed his eyes.
He remained silent when asked if he had any final words and never reopened his eyes. Prison officials said he declined a last meal Monday night and again Tuesday morning.
Doctors began the process by sedating West at 11:01 a.m., and he was pronounced dead nine minutes later.
West, 52, became the 91st person executed by the state since 1910, despite multiple last-minute appeals on a variety of issues.
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West and some friends bought furniture and electronics from Donald Lee Bortle, 53, in late June 1987, according to court records. On July 12, West went back to Bortle's west-side mobile home by himself, beat Bortle on the head and face, hogtied him and left him to bleed to death as he looted Bortle's house.
Bortle's body was found five days later when a woman told police a "friend of a friend" had robbed a man and left him tied up. Bortle's 1978 Datsun was found torched in Phoenix.
West was arrested in Illinois during a traffic stop at 3 a.m. July 18, 1987; items belonging to Bortle were found in the car.
West was convicted of first-degree murder, second-degree burglary and theft by control after a six-day trial and was sentenced to die Aug. 1, 1988.
Bortle's eldest son, Dave Bortle, of Oklahoma City, said his father was beaten so severely that surgical scars were used to identify his body.
"I feel relief in a way, but I also think it's an unfortunate waste of a life. It's too bad he took that route," Bortle said in a telephone interview after the execution. "He couldn't be rehabilitated and he wasn't a very nice person, obviously."
Bortle said he was fine with the fact that West didn't say anything. He wasn't expecting him to, and he didn't find his apologies at a clemency hearing last week to be genuine, anyway.
Maybe if he or his sisters had been in attendance, West would've said something, but "whatever was right for him at that moment was fine with me," Bortle said.
Donald Bortle spent 20 years in the Air Force, married, had six children, divorced and remarried. After he got out of the military, he worked on electronics in the aerospace industry until a back injury forced him to retire.
He moved to Tucson a couple of years before he died, living on money from a lawsuit settlement over a botched surgery, Bortle said.
His father was a fan of Perry Como and Frank Sinatra, loved to write love songs and poems, Bortle said.
Had his father lived, he would have had seven grandchildren, Bortle said.
West, a Kankakee, Ill., native, was sentenced to six years in prison for manslaughter in Illinois in October 1981 and was released after serving 15 months. He went on to serve 19 months on burglary and drug charges. He was released less than two years before Don Bortle was killed.
Last week, the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency voted 3-2 against recommending the commutation of West's sentence to a natural life sentence.
West's attorneys argued West was recently diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by childhood sexual abuse.
During that hearing, West apologized for his actions, said he couldn't forgive himself and he didn't expect to be forgiven. He asked for the commutation on behalf of his 13-year-old grandson, saying he wanted to mentor him and advise him against drugs and alcohol.
The ninth-grade drop-out said he knew it sounded "hollow," but he couldn't express his sorrow enough.
"He did nothing to deserve this. I have no idea what happened. I can't figure it out," West said. He went on to say he had no idea the injuries he inflicted were fatal and disputed witnesses who testified he bragged about the beating.
West and one of his arresting detectives had a conversation about the death penalty on their way back to Tucson from Illinois, according to court records.
The detective quoted West as saying: "If they would actually kill everybody that deserved it, I would have no problem. In fact, I would be one of the first ones to go."
Contact reporter Kim Smith at 573-4241 or kimsmith@azstarnet.com
