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Thread: Condemned inmates' last words telling

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Condemned inmates' last words telling

    ST. LOUIS (AP) - John Clayton Smith was a killer, and he didn't claim otherwise. The Missouri man broke into the home of a former girlfriend in 1995, stabbed her 11 times, then took the knife to her stepfather and killed him, too.

    But in eight years on death row, Smith found God and felt remorse. He used his last words to reach out to the victims' relatives.

    "I only ask that somewhere down life's road, you can find it in your hearts to forgive me," Smith said. "I know my death can never bring back your loved ones, but I pray my death may give you some sort of peace."

    For as long as people have been executed, they've been offered a chance at one final statement, and many don't take the opportunity lightly. Their statements often express love for family or God. They vary from the defiant to the contrite, from the sweet to the silly.

    "They are using this opportunity to demonstrate that they are human beings, that they have moral values, that they have families they love, that they're good people in a sense," said Janelle Ward, assistant professor of media and communications at Erasmuf University in The Netherlands who in 2008 published a study of the final words of Texas inmates.

    "I think this is their last chance to speak their minds," Ward said. "I do think it's cathartic for them."

    The process of actually making those final statements varies from state to state. In many states such as Texas, the nation's most active death penalty state with 464 executions since it resumed capital punishment in 1982, inmates make their final statements from the gurney in the moments before lethal injection.

    In Missouri, where the state is preparing to execute Richard Clay on Wednesday, the "last words" aren't really last words. Inmates are offered the opportunity to make a final statement the day before the scheduled execution. They can either write it themselves or dictate to a staff member, corrections department spokesman Chris Cline said. A public information officer reads the statement to the media after the execution is complete.

    Some prisoners have tried to use the final statements to delay the inevitable. For that reason, states such as Texas and Ohio now have time limits.

    In 1994, Texas inmate Raymond Kinnamon spoke for more than a half hour to the approach of dawn - when the death warrant was set to expire. The warden finally ordered the drugs to start and Kinnamon was executed. Now, Texas inmates have about two minutes to speak.

    What comes out in those last words is often telling about where the inmate's life has gone since his arrival on death row. Often, they seek to provide some closure to a troubled life.

    Remorse is a common theme. Gary Lee Roll was an atypical death row inmate - a college graduate from a respected family in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Yet he killed three people during a 1992 robbery. He used his final words to apologize - not only to the family of the victims, but to his own relatives.

    "I failed my family," Roll said.

    Many, like Michael Owsley, turn to religion in prison and use their final words to express their faith. "I hope for salvation," Owsley said. "I hope that the mercy and forgiveness that I have asked for will suffice. Praise Allah."

    The Rev. Larry Rice of St. Louis ministers to prison inmates, including those on death row, and has watched 16 Missouri men die by injection.

    "There is remorse, you see that, and I think they're preparing to face God," Rice said. "I think they're really concerned about their families."

    Some are philosophical.

    "You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everybody dances with the Grim Reaper," Robert Alton Harris, executed in California in 1992, said.

    Some inmates go down fighting, using their final words as one last chance to proclaim their innocence.

    "You're killing an innocent man and you can all kiss my ass," Roy "Hog" Michael Roberts said in 1999 before he was executed for killing a Missouri prison guard 16 years earlier.

    Then there are some that are just bizarre.

    "Please tell the media, I did not get my Spaghetti-Os, I got spaghetti. I want the press to know," Thomas Grasso said before he was executed in Oklahoma in 1995.

    "How about this for a headline for tomorrow's paper? French fries," James French said as he was about to be electrocuted in Oklahoma in 1966.

    Inmates have used their final words to tell jokes, pray, cry, recite poetry, recite from the Bible, spout obscenities. Or sing.

    Jonathan Nobles sang "Silent Night" as his injection began in Texas in 1998. He made it to "round yon virgin, mother and child" before the first of the drugs knocked him unconscious.

    http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news...ds/?news&texas
    Last edited by PITA; 05-09-2012 at 10:50 AM. Reason: Factual error in one of the lines of this post has been spotted.

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    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
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    True story of how the Ohio death row warden actually said jokes are common among some inmates in the hours before their death. He told of how one inmate said he'd quit smoking in a couple hours!

    As you might guess his execution was a couple hours away! It's nice that they let him smoke since they knew he'd be dying soon.

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    Charles William Bass #662


    I deserve this. Tell everyone I said goodbye.

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    Kenneth A. Brock #522

    Last Statement:

    I have no last words. I am ready.

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    Senior Member Member chris35721's Avatar
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    George Rivas, #999394

    Last Statement:

    Yes, I do. First of all for the Aubrey Hawkins family, I do apologize for everything that happened. Not because I am here, but for closure in your hearts. I really believe that you deserve that. To my wife, Cheri, I am so grateful you're in my life. I love you so dearly. Thank you to my sister and dear friend Katherine Cox, my son and family, friends and family. I love you so dearly. To my friends, all the guys on the row, you have my courtesy and respect. Thank you to the people involved and to the courtesy of the officers. I am grateful for everything in my life. To my wife, take care of yourself. I will be waiting for you. I love you. God Bless. I am ready to go.

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    Senior Member Member chris35721's Avatar
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    Cleve Foster, #999470

    Last Statement:

    Yes, you know I sat in my cell many days wondering what my last words would be: love for my family, grandson, friends. I love you very much. Tonight when I close my eyes, I'll be with my Father. Some time ago I got a letter, I read it, and stuck it in with a bunch of stuff; and I thought to myself, what a cold-hearted person. I was asked about the letter, I spent half the night looking for the letter. A little part of the letter touched me. Over the years I have learned to love. God is everything. God is my life. Tonight, I will be with Him. I am a parent myself. I have so much for this dear lady. I understand where they're coming from, I thought every person was cruel. I love you so, Susan. You know what it is girl, love ya. Maurie, appreciate it girl. Much love to you all. Mrs. Cox, love you. Momma, you are my hero. I wish this world was just like you. Another mother got hurt, as a parent I understand the pain. That letter she wrote wasn't wrong, she was just hurting. She showed God's love for letting me know that love will be there to welcome me home. I love you all. I don't know what you are going to feel after tonight. I love you. I pray one day we will all meet in heaven. A man told me 11 years ago the hardest thing to say is, "I forgive you." Hope one day we all be together again. I love you all: Susan, Mrs. Cox, momma, Maurie, Michael. Grandbabies make the world go around. I love you all. Warden, I am looking to leave this place on wings of a homesick angel. Ready to go home to meet my maker. What a friend we have in Jesus, oh my God, I lay in awe 'cause I love you God. I love you momma. I love you Susan.

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    Senior Member Member chris35721's Avatar
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    Jonathan Green, #999421

    Last Statement:

    I'm an innocent man. I did not kill anyone. Ya'll are killing an innocent man. My left arm is killing me. It hurts bad.

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    Senior Member Member chris35721's Avatar
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    http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/death_ro...offenders.html list of every offender ever excuted by injection in the state of texas

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    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
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    Pretty sure more than one condemned man has said "I didn't come here to talk. I came here to die!"

  10. #10
    Senior Member CnCP Addict Stro07's Avatar
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    2012's weirdest last words were from Robert Charles Towery, Arizona: "Potato, potato, potato." I haven't got the slightest idea what he meant.

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