SC slaying victim’s dad says execution won’t help

At the time of the shooting, police said Gardner and his co-defendants decided to kill a white woman as retribution for the mistreatment of blacks during slavery. They said a letter found during the investigation contained racial slurs and statements justifying revenge against white

CHARLESTON, S.C. - The father of a woman slain 16 years ago in what authorities initially said was retribution by five black men for centuries of racial oppression won’t make the trip to South Carolina to see his daughter’s killer put to death Friday.

“I’m not going to view the execution because it will just open old wounds,” said Clair McLauchlin, 76, who lives with his wife Patricia in Live Oak, a small town in northern Florida.

McLauchlin said the death by lethal injection of Joseph Gardner, 38, on Friday also won’t bring closure for his family, even after all these years.

“I can tell you right now, it will never be closed,” said McLauchlin, who expects to get a phone call from prison officials when the execution is carried out.

“He was sentenced to death, but he sentenced us to a life sentence when he killed her,” McLauchlin said. “It’s never going to change. It’s never going to go away.”