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Jun 29, 2013 · Texas has executed 500 inmates since it resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1982. Selected excerpts of inmates’ last words reveal a glimpse of the humanity behind those anonymous...
1 day ago · Richard Moore was pronounced dead at 6:24pm local time on Friday (Credits: AP) A death row inmate’s final words have been revealed shortly after he was executed by lethal injection. Richard ...
- Jimmy Glass, 1987
- Jeffrey David Matthews, 2011
- Barbara Graham, 1955
- George Appel, 1928
- James Lewis Jackson, 2007
- Robert Charles Towery, 2012
- George Engel, 1887
- Aileen Wuornos, 2002
- James French, 1966
- Johnny Frank Garrett, 1992
Last Words:“I’d Rather Be Fishing” On Christmas of 1982, 20-year-old Jimmy Glass and inmate Jimmy Wingo escaped from jail and shot an elderly couple to death while burglarizing their home. Both blamed each other for the crime and both ended up on the electric chair.
Last Words:“I think that governor’s phone is broke. He hadn’t called yet.” Jeffrey David Matthews had his execution postponed three times, twice by the governor of Oklahoma to further investigate his claims of innocence and once due to the controversy surrounding the drugs they were going to administer to him. Matthews was indicted for the 1994 mur...
Last Words:“Good people are always so sure they’re right.” After a rough childhood and a string of failed marriages, Barbara Graham went into prostitution before being married again to a bartender and drug addict. She soon left him for a business associate of his, Emmett Perkins, who ran an illegal gambling operation. The couple, as well as other a...
Last Words:“Well, gentlemen, you are about to see a baked Appel.” While getting strapped to the electric chair, George Appel suddenly found the situation humorous, and delivered those infamous last words. These words quickly spread through the public and became more remembered than his actual crime. He was convicted of first degree murder for killi...
Last Words:“Warden, murder me.” He then referred to Harris County (where he was convicted) as Sodom and Gomorrah, the biblical cities destroyed by God for their sins. “I’m ready to roll. Time to get this party started.” In 1995, James Lewis Jackson married Sharon Jackson and became a father to two stepdaughters. Due to heavy drug use, he had troubl...
Last Words:“I love my family. Potato, potato, potato.” Robert Charles Towery was executed through lethal injecting, which is ironic considering he was charged for injecting battery acid into his victim before strangling him to death in a 1991 robbery. The victim was a philanthropist who loaned money to Towery on several occasions and used him as hi...
Last Words:“Hurrah for anarchy! This is the happiest moment of my life.” George Engel was a German immigrant who lost faith in the political process and joined the International Working People’s Association. In 1886 a big rally full of anarchists and labor activists turned violent when a bomb was thrown at the police, killing seven. Although nobody...
Last Words:“Yes, I would just like to say I’m sailing with the Rock, and I’ll be back, like Independence Day with Jesus. June 6, like the movie. Big mother ship and all, I’ll be back, I’ll be back.” With a father who was a child molester and hung himself in jail and a mother who abandoned her to the care of her grandparents, Aileen Wuornos’ childho...
Last Words:“How about this for a headline for tomorrow’s paper? French fries.” In 1958, James French murdered a driver who picked him up from hitchhiking. While serving his life sentence, he decided that he didn’t want to live anymore but was too afraid to end his own life. And so, he killed his inmate to compel the state to execute him by electric...
Last Words:“I’d like to thank my family for loving me and taking care of me. And the rest of the world can kiss my ass.” Indicted for the rape and murder of a nun in 1981, Johnny Frank Garrett’s execution was a controversial one due to the fact that he was mentally handicapped and only seventeen when he was sentenced. He had a horrific childhood, a...
- James French, (1966): "How's this for your headline? ' French Fries' " Serving a life sentence for killing a motorist who picked him up while hitchhiking, French murdered his cellmate to compel the state to execute him.
- Carl Panzram, (1930): “Hurry it up, you Hoosier bastard! I could hang a dozen men while you’re screwing around!” A serial killer, rapist, arsonist, and burglar, in 1928 Panzram was arrested and confessed to murdering two boys.
- Vincent Gutierrez, (2007): “Where's my stunt double when you need one?” Gutierrez was found guilty of the carjacking murder of a 40-year-old man in Texas.
- Tom Ketchum, (1901): “Let her rip!” The last American to be hanged was found guilty of train robbery. The hanging itself was botched, however — the noose ripping his head off when the trapdoor retracted.
Jun 3, 2017 · Death row inmates are given a chance to speak final words before the execution begins. The words, sometimes an apology, sometimes self-serving or haunting or just weird, hang over the final...
The book documents the final words of death row inmates in the United States, from the seventeenth century to the present day. The chapters are organized by era and method of execution. In each case, Elder also provides short descriptions of the inmates’ backgrounds and purported crimes.
Consisting of letters and other writings by death row inmates, this book vividly conveys daily life on death row through emotionally powerful statements by inmates who are facing execution.
