Bio 

David Lawson was born on June 22, 1955. Lawson had a criminal history that included breaking and entering cases in Stanly County, North Carolina. During the sentencing phase of his trial, he testified that his record included “two cases of breaking and entering” from earlier years. He also stated that he had helped the State in another felony prosecution.

By December 1980, Lawson was living in North Carolina and had access to a firearm. Court records show that he owned a .32-caliber pistol in September 1980 and later attempted to buy another pistol shortly after December 4, 1980. A ballistics expert testified that the bullet that killed Wayne Shinn was a .32-caliber bullet.

Lawson’s later appeals also included claims about his mental health and personal background. Amnesty International reported that his later attorneys argued that no evidence about his poor mental health or childhood abuse and neglect had been presented to the sentencing jury. Those claims were part of later efforts to stop the execution, but they did not prevent the sentence from being carried out.

Murder Story

On December 4, 1980, David Lawson broke into the home of Wayne Shinn in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. Wayne Shinn was not home when Lawson first entered. According to court records, Lawson was surprised after Wayne returned and discovered him inside the house.

Lawson pointed his gun at Wayne Shinn and ordered him to turn around. He then shot Wayne in the back of the head. Wayne fell to the floor. Lawson later said he believed he had killed him because the shot was fired at close range.

As Lawson left the house, he saw another man approaching the patio. This man was Buren Shinn, Wayne Shinn’s father. Buren tried to run and got into a truck, but Lawson ordered him out. Even after Buren begged not to be shot, Lawson forced him to walk toward the patio and shot him in the back of the head. Buren survived the attack and later identified Lawson as the assailant.

Court records show that Lawson killed Wayne Shinn and shot Buren Shinn to avoid being identified and arrested. The North Carolina Supreme Court recorded that Lawson said he did not want to go back to prison and wanted to eliminate witnesses.

After the shooting, Lawson left the scene. A witness named Phyllis Soden later testified that Lawson came to her home on December 4, 1980, and asked her to drive him near Wayne Shinn’s residence. Lawson told her where to stop, got out of the vehicle, and later returned carrying a crowbar. He said he had broken into a house and left the crowbar there, and he wanted to retrieve it because he feared it might have his fingerprints on it.

Lawson was charged in Cabarrus County with first-degree murder for Wayne Shinn’s death, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury for the shooting of Buren Shinn, and felonious breaking and entering of Wayne Shinn’s home. A jury convicted him of all three charges.

During the penalty phase, Lawson told the court that he wanted the death penalty rather than life imprisonment. He stated that being imprisoned for life for something he claimed he did not do would be cruel and said, “You think I done it, gas me.” The trial judge explained that the jury, not Lawson, would decide the sentence.

The jury found two aggravating circumstances: that Wayne Shinn’s murder was committed to avoid lawful arrest, and that it was part of a course of conduct involving another violent crime against another person. The jury found that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances and recommended death by lethal gas.

Lawson continued to challenge his conviction and sentence through appeals. The North Carolina Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence, and later federal appeals also failed to overturn the judgment. His case became widely known because he and television host Phil Donahue tried to obtain permission to videotape the execution. Courts rejected that request.

North Carolina law allowed death row inmates to choose lethal injection after 1983. Lawson did not request lethal injection because he said choosing the method would make him part of the execution process. As a result, he was executed by lethal gas. North Carolina’s Department of Adult Correction states that Lawson became the first person in 30 years to die by lethal gas in the state.

David Lawson was executed in North Carolina’s gas chamber on June 15, 1994. Associated Press reporting stated that he was executed for the 1980 murder of Wayne Shinn, who had caught him breaking into the house.