Appeared in Lane Nelson and Burk Foster, Death Watch: A Death Penalty Anthology, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001, pp. 283-296. Also appeared in The Angolite, November/December 2000 & January/February 2001, pp. 44-51.
Have you ever given any thought to what you would say if you were asked to make a final statement before death? Most of us will never be in a position to make a rational, complete last statement that others will remember us by. If we leave any last words, it is an epitath our survivors choose for our tombstone.
For almost all of humanity, death is unpredictable and not a time for speechmaking. Death comes for us when we are old, and sick, and incapacitated physically and mentally, or it comes with the suddenness of a stroke or heart attack. Or it comes unnaturally with the unanticipated accident or homicidal attack. What were their last thoughts, we might wonder? What message would they leave us?
About the only two categories of persons about to die who are in a position to tell us exactly what is on their mind are those persons committing suicide and those whom the state has decided to kill. When a person commits suicide, we look for a note of explanation. Sometimes a note is found, sometimes not. Sometimes it makes sense, as when a person rationally ticks off all the aspects of his life that have gone wrong, leaving him no other choice; often it does not, when the suicide's problems seem to be more in his own mind, or no worse than those of the people reading the note. Was this it, you wonder?
The suicide chooses to end his life, but his act is typically spontaneous, a response to specific circumstances within a state of despair, and often surprising. The deaths of persons executed by the state are very different. As Albert Camus has discussed so precisely in "Reflections on the Guillotine," capital punishment is the moral equivalent of the most premeditated of murders--a killing in which the victim is given a date upon which a horrible death will be deliberately inflicted upon him, and then confined at the mercy of the state, under the most restrictive conditions, until that date arrives.
The person being executed by the state would not otherwise be considered a "dying man." He is typically a young, healthy man in good physical shape. He is not suicidal, or he would already have killed himself. Even the "volunteers" for execution don't kill themselves; they merely stop fighting the state's efforts to expedite the process. In their "assisted" suicides, the state plays the role of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, aka "Dr. Death," helping the terminally ill patient choose the time of his early death.
What is the mental state of persons awaiting execution? Robert Johnson, in Death Work, and others have described the feelings of anxiety, powerlessness, fear, doubt, boredom, and despair that prevail on Death Row. Given their completely dependent status, the degree of security they live under, the isolated, sanitized nature of their confinement, and the absence of stimulation in their lives, what else would you expect from this very special group of prison inmates?
But what is truly surprising, to people who interact regularly with Death Row inmates, is how tenaciously these people--whom outsiders categorize as animals--cling to their humanity. Spend a day with one, on or off the Row, and you see how hard they struggle to remain normal. Many of them succeed much better on Death Row than they ever did in the free world.
When their execution date finally comes, they watch the hourglass of time, the minutes trickling down like sand until only a few grains remain. How do they want to be remembered, in the traditional last statement they will be allowed to make? Will they try to impart words of wisdom to loved ones, will they make one last proclamation of innocence, will they protest in bitterness, will they express remorse, will they be abject or defiant? Some may ramble on for minutes (there are inmates whose last statements have been forcibly stopped), while others simply stare in stony silence, refusing one last time to play the man's game.
What do they say, given this last precious opportunity? Think about it. What would you say, if you knew that five minutes from now, lethal chemicals would be injected into your bloodstream, and your voice would be forever silenced? What final message would you leave behind? Here is what some executed persons, from long ago up until the present, chose to say with their last words:
"That is false. I have always served my king loyally and sought to add to his domains."
Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the discoverer of the Pacific Ocean, before he was beheaded as a traitor, based on bogus evidence, in 1519.
"The executioner is, I believe, very expert, and my neck is very slender. O God have pity on my soul. O God have pity on my soul."
Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, as she was about to be beheaded for alleged adultery in 1536.
"This is a sharp medicine, but it is a physician for all diseases."
Sir Walter Raleigh, as he touched the blade of the axe with which he would be beheaded for treason, on October 29, 1618.
"This is a very fickle and faithless generation."
Captain William Kidd, sea captain and pirate, before his hanging in England in 1701. He had been promised a pardon if he surrendered.
"I did not think they would put a young gentleman to death for such a trifle."
Jean Francois le Fevre, Chevalier de la Barre, about to be executed for having mutilated a crucifix, in France in 1766. He was 19.
"Farewell, my children, forever; I am going to be with your father."
Marie Antoinette, queen of France, at her execution on October 16, 1793.
"Be sure you show my head to the mob. It will be a long time ere they see its like."
Georges Jacques Danton, leader of the French Revolution, to his own executioner as he faced the guillotine on April 5, 1794.
"Nothing succeeds with me. Even here I meet with disappointment."
Michael Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Russian democratic revolutionary condemned to death for plotting against Emperor Nicholas I in 1825, when the first rope broke at his hanging.
"I hope you will not keep me waiting any longer than necessary."
John Brown, the abolitionist, as he was about to be hung on December 2, 1859, for leading the raid on Harpers Ferry.
"Don't draw it too tight. I can't breathe. . . Long live Anarchy. . . This is the happiest moment of my life."
Adlof Fischer, an instigator of the Haymarket Square riot in Chicago, at his hanging in 1886.
"My Dream"
"I dreamt I was in Heaven
Among the Angels fair;
I'd never seen none so handsome
That twine in golden hair.
They looked so neat and sang so swell
And played the Golden Harp.
I was about to pick an angel out
And take her to my heart;
But the moment I began to plea,
I thought of you, my love.
There was none I'd seen so beautiful
On earth or Heaven above.
Good by my dear wife and Mother
Also my sister."
Rufus Buck, an outlaw of Oklahoma Territory, wrote this poem on the back of a picture of his mother the day before he was hanged in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, on July 1, 1896. Buck, who was mixed black and Creek Indian, led a gang on a two-week rampage of murder, rape, and robbery in 1895.
"Oh, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do! Father, forgive me--oh, Father, forgive me! Father, forgive them, Father, oh Father, forgive them!"
Ruth Snyder, sitting in the electric chair at Sing Sing, January 12, 1927, about to be electrocuted for murdering her husband.
"Beautiful world."
Charlie Birger, looking out from the gallows before he was hung, April 19, 1928, in Benton, Illinois.
"Yes, hurry it up, you Hoosier bastard! I could hang a dozen men while you're fooling around."
Carl Panzram, who claimed to have killed at least 23 people and committed hundreds of homosexual rapes, robberies, and burglaries all over the world, when asked by the hangman at Leavenworth if he had anything to say, September 5, 1930. In the letter to the Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, dated May 23, 1930, Panzram had written, "The only thanks you or your kind will ever get from me for your efforts on my behalf is that I wish you all had one neck and that I had my hands on it."
"It's kind of funny--dying. I think I know what it will be like. I'll be standing there, and all of a sudden everything will be black, then there'll be a light again. There's got to be a light again--there's got to be."
Arthur Gooch, the night before he was hung in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary on June 19, 1936, the first person executed for kidnaping under the Lindbergh Law.
"I don't want to have to look at people."
Barbara Graham, asking for a blindfold before entering California's gas chamber on June 3, 1955.
"Hell no! No one ever did anything for me. Why in the hell should I do anything for anyone else?"
Charles Starkweather, when asked before his electrocution on June 25, 1959, if he wanted to donate his eyes to the Lions Club eye bank.
"Take it easy . . . It's all right . . . Tell Rosalie goodbye. . . ."
Caryl Chessman, the "Red Light Bandit," as the cyanide pellets dropped in California's gas chamber, May 2, 1960. Chessman was executed for kidnaping, not murder.
"I'd kill your mother, your father, or your daughter. I love to kill. So you'll be doing society one of the best jobs you ever did."
James D. French, to his executioner, as French was about to be electrocuted in Oklahoma for strangling his cellmate while serving a life sentence for murder, August 10, 1966.
"Let's do it!"
Gary Gilmore, Utah, January 17, 1977, before he was executed by firing squad in Utah, resuming executions in the United States after a ten-year layoff.
"This is just one more step down the road of life that I've been heading all my life. Let's go."
Jesse Bishop, as he stepped into the gas chamber in Nevada, October 22, 1978.
"Well, the Lord is going to get another one."
John Eldon Smith, Georgia, December 15, 1983.
"My final words are--I am innocent."
James Dupree Henry, Florida, September 20, 1984.
"I'm ready for the rocket to take off." (said as he jumped onto the lethal injection gurney)
Ramon Hernandez, January 30, 1987, as he jumped onto the lethal injection gurney in Texas.
"I love you."
Sean Flanagan, Nevada, June 23, 1989. Remarks directed to the prosecutor.
"You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everybody dances with the Grim Reaper."
Robert Alton Harris, California, April 12, 1992.
"I'm going home babe. . . . The rest of you can kiss my ass."
James Allen Red Dog, Delaware, March 3, 1993.
"I am an African warrior, born to breath, born to die."
Carl Kelly, Texas, August 20, 1993.
"Adios."
John Thanos, Maryland, May 16, 1994.
"Im human! Im human!"
David Lawson, North Carolina, June 15, 1994, screamed while strapped in the gas chamber, fruitlessly fighting the deadly fumes.
"I have news for you. There's not going to be an execution. This is premeditated murder."
Jessie DeWayne Jacobs, Texas, January 4, 1995.
"Governor Tucker, look over your shoulder; justice is coming. I wouldn't trade places with you or any of your cronies. Hell has victories. I am at peace."
Richard Wayne Snell, Arkansas, January 19, 1995.
"I love you mom. Goodbye. Goodbye mom."
Jeffery Dean Motley, Texas, February 7, 1995.
"I think it's best for me to just say nothing at all."
Karl Hammond, Texas, June 21, 1995.
"Don't let it hurt me; pray for me."
Jesse James Ferguson, executed June 9, 1961, for the rape murder of an eleven-year-old Opelousas girl. The last man executed in Louisiana until 1983.
Twenty-four men have been executed in Louisiana in the 15 years since capital punishment resumed in 1983. Here are the final statements of each of these men.
Robert Wayne Williams was executed on December 14, 1983. Williams was convicted of killing 67-year-old Willie Kelly, a security guard at a Baton Rouge supermarket, during a robbery on January 5, 1979. Williams maintained that the shotgun he was using in the robbery discharged accidentally, striking Kelly in the face. Williams's last words were:
"I told the truth about what happened. I would like it to be a remembrance for Louisiana and the whole country that would be a deterrence against capital punishment and show that capital punishment is no good and never has been good. I would like all the people who have fought capital punishment to keep on fighting--not just for me but for everybody."
Johnny Taylor, Jr., was executed on February 29, 1984. Taylor was convicted of stabbing to death David Vogler, Jr., on February 8, 1980, to steal a car. Vogler was attempting to sell his wife's car, left in a Kenner parking lot with a "For Sale" sign in the window. Taylor called to arrange a meeting with Vogler in the parking lot. Vogler's body was found in the trunk of his own car the next day. Taylor was found driving Mrs. Vogler's car in Alabama four months later. Taylor's last words were:
"I've done a lot of wrong, caused a lot of hurt. I guess this is the price I pay for it.
"I found God in Christ. I made a commitment with him. I'm ready to see this through. There are those out there who need help. I wish in some way you could all contribute to helping them. Living has been hard for me and its (sic) time for me to die, for whatever reason . . . . I hope you will not leave with the sense this is going to deter crime.
"That's it, let's go."
Elmo Patrick Sonnier was executed on April 5, 1984. Sonnier was convicted, along with his brother, Eddie, in the murders of teenagers Loretta Bourque and David LeBlanc in a field in Iberia Parish on November 5, 1977. Both Sonnier brothers also raped Bourque. Eddie Sonnier was also given a death sentence for the crimes, but his sentence was commuted to life by the Louisiana Supreme Court, which ruled that he did not commit the killings. Although Eddie Sonnier later claimed that he had done the murders, the courts and the governor let Pat Sonnier's death sentence stand. Pat Sonnier was one of the two Death Row inmates featured in the book version of Sister Helen Prejean's Dead Man Walking. Sonnier's last words, addressed to Lloyd LeBlanc, the father of one victim, and to Sister Helen Prejean, were:
"Mr. LeBlanc, I can understand the way you feel. I have no hatred in my heart, and as I leave this world, I ask God to forgive what . . . I have done. I ask you to have forgiveness" (at which Mr. LeBlanc nodded and said, "Yes").
"I love you" (directed to Sister Helen).
Timothy George Baldwin was executed on September 10, 1984. Baldwin was convicted of beating to death an 85-year-old blind woman, Mary James Peters, during the robbery of her West Monroe home on April 4, 1978. Peters, who was a former neighbor of Baldwin's and the godmother of his youngest child, was beaten with a skillet, a stool, a small television set, and a telephone. Baldwin, who maintained his innocence, gave this final statement:
"I've always tried to be a good sport when I've lost at something and I see no reason not to leave this world with the same policy. After all, it was a hell of a battle.
"I therefore congratulate all those who have tried so hard to murder me. I definitely have to give them credit as it takes a very special kind of person to murder an innocent man and still be able to live with themselves."
Earnest Knighton, Jr., executed on October 30, 1984. Knighton was convicted of shooting to death Ralph Shell, a Bossier City service station proprietor, during an attempted robbery on March 17, 1981. Knighton's last words were:
"I am sorry, more sorry than I can say Mr. Shell is dead and that I'm responsible. I feel sorry for Mrs. Shell and all of Mr. Shell's family and friends. I feel sorry for my mother, my family and everyone else who will grieve for me. I have asked God to forgive me. . . .
"I have to say that what you are doing is wrong. If I thought my death would bring back Mr. Shell or would save someone else from a murder I would volunteer, but I know it won't. You don't teach respect for life by killing. I urge you not to kill anyone else. I ask God to forgive you for killing me. I now ask God in the name of Jesus to receive my spirit."
Robert Lee Willie was executed on December 28, 1984. Willie was convicted of the rape and murder of Faith Hathaway south of Franklinton on May 28, 1980. Hathaway was raped by both Willie and his co-defendant Joseph J. Vaccaro and then stabbed to death; each man said the other did it. Willie was convicted of other violent crimes, including kidnaping and rape, and said that he had committed other murders as well. He was also featured in Sister Helen Prejean's Dead Man Walking. Willie's last words were addressed to the parents of the Faith Hathaway, Vernon and Elizabeth Harvey, who became known as Louisiana's most ardent supporters of the death penalty:
"I would just like to say, Mr. and Mrs. Harvey, that I hope you get some relief from my death. Killing people is wrong. That's why you've put me to death. It makes no difference whether it's citizens, countries, or governments, killing is wrong."
When the hood was placed over his head, Willie asked that it be removed, and he winked at Sister Helen, who was present as his spiritual advisor. Then the hood was replaced.
David Dene Martin was executed on January 4, 1985. Martin was convicted of a quadruple murder that he committed on August 14, 1977. The victims, Bobby Todd, Terry Hebert, Anne Tierney, and Sandra Brake, were shot to death in Todd's mobile home near Houma. Martin's wife had told him she was having an affair with Todd; the other three victims were strangers who just happened to be present when Martin burst in and began shooting. Martin, who was an active Seventh-Day Adventist and an even more active drug addict, made no final statement at his execution. But at a Pardon Board clemency hearing the afternoon before his death, Martin had said:
"To take someone's life is out of character for me. It is not David Martin. I am devastated at what I have done, but I can't remember it. My life has been dedicated to saving lives, helping people, not destroying people.
"I know I wouldn't willfully take another person's life. Something bad went down. But it wasn't David Martin. I wasn't right. I don't know. I don't know. That's all."
Benjamin Berry was executed on June 7, 1987. Berry was convicted in the fatal shooting of Robert Cochran, an off-duty Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputy working as a bank guard, during a bank robbery attempt on January 30, 1978. Berry made no final statement.
Alvin R. Moore was executed on June 9, 1987. Moore was convicted on raping, robbing, and stabbing to death Jo Ann Wilson, a former neighbor, at her Bossier City home on July 9, 1980. Moore made no final statement to the public; his attorney said his last words to him were:
"They can kill my body, but not my soul."
Jimmy L. Glass was executed on June 12, 1987. Glass was convicted of shooting to death Newton and Erline Brown while burglarizing their Dixie Inn home on Christmas Day, 1982. Glass and Jimmy Wingo had escaped from the Webster Parish Jail the day before. Glass claimed that Wingo forced him at gunpoint to kill the Browns. Glass's last words were:
"I'd rather be fishing."
Jimmy Wingo was executed four days later, on June 16, 1987. Although Wingo and Glass had escaped from jail together, Wingo's story was that he was not even present when Glass killed the Browns. Wingo's final statement was:
"I am an innocent man. You are murdering me this day. I do still love you all in Christ. God bless you all."
Willie Celestine was executed on July 20, 1987. Celestine was convicted of raping and strangling 81-year-old Marcelianne Richard in her Lafayette home on September 13, 1981. He had also been convicted of raping two other elderly women in the same neighborhood. Celestine's final statement was:
"I'd just like to tell the Richard family that I'm very, very sorry. I hope in their hearts they can forgive."
Willie Watson was executed on July 24, 1987. Watson was convicted of the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Kathy Newman, a Tulane University medical student, in St. Charles Parish on April 5, 1981. When asked if he had any last words, Watson calmly shook his head no.
John E. Brogdon was executed on July 30, 1987. Brogdon and his co-defendant Bruce Perritt were convicted of raping, beating, and stabbing to death 11-year-old Barbara Jo Brown behind a levee near Luling on October 7, 1981. Perritt received a life sentence when the jury deadlocked in the penalty phase. Brogdon made no formal final statement. As he turned to seat himself in the electric chair, his last words were:
"God bless y'all."
Sterling J. Rault, Jr., was executed on August 24, 1987. Rault was convicted of raping, stabbing, shooting, and burning the body of Jane Ellen Francioni, a 21-year-old secretary who worked in the same gas company where he worked as an accountant, on March 1, 1981, in New Orleans. Rault had given several varying, bizarre confessions to the crime. Rault's final statement was:
"I would like the public to know that they are killing an innocent man at this time. I pray that God will forgive all those involved in this matter. I, personally, do not hold any animosity towards anyone, though.
"This country professes to be `One nation under God,' but the death penalty goes against the word of God. Jesus Christ died on the cross in order that all people would have mercy and we need to start giving that mercy to our fellow man.
"Into the arms of love of God I now go. I love you all. May God bless you all."
Wayne Robert Felde was executed on March 15, 1988. Felde was convicted of shooting Shreveport Police Officer Thomas Glenn Tompkins on October 20, 1978. Felde was a prison escapee from Maryland who had been arrested by Tompkins on a drunkenness complaint. Felde's defense was based on post-traumatic stress syndrome occurring as a result of his military service in Vietnam. Felde asked the jury to sentence him to death. His final words were:
"You can kill the messenger, but you can't kill the message."
Leslie Lowenfield was executed on April 13, 1988. Lowenfield killed five people--his former girlfriend, Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Deputy Sheila Thomas, her four-year-old daughter, Shantel Osborne, the girl's father, Carl Osborne, and Thomas's mother and stepfather, Myrtle and Owen Griffin--in Marrero on August 30, 1982. The jury gave him three consecutive death sentences and two manslaughter sentences. Lowenfield claimed to be in Florida at the time of the killings. His final statement included remarks directed at two attorneys, Wayne Walker and John Craft, who had worked on his trial and appeal. Lowenfield's last words were:
"I hope you all feel satisfied. Don't give up on me although my life will be over tonight, because the one responsible is out there.
"There is no reason to hold anything against me and the rest who would lie. When I'm gone, the body will be gone, but the spirit will live on.
"Mr. Walker and John Craft, your job was more important than my life. I hope you feel satisfied. Thank all of you all. Peace!"
Edward R. Byrne, Jr., was executed June 14, 1988. Byrne was convicted of the murder of Roberta Johnson, a Bossier City service station cashier, during an August 14, 1984, robbery. Byrne had previously dated Johnson. He beat her on the head and upper body with a ballpeen hammer, then robbed her of $7,000. Byrne made no final public statement. He told the Pardon Board, the day before his execution:
"I don't know exactly what it is that I can say to y'all. I was planning to rob this woman all along. It was all set up. There were no flaws that I could see.
"I just attempted to knock her unconscious. It didn't work. She didn't become unconscious. I just kept hitting her until she did."
Dalton Prejean was executed on May 18, 1990. Prejean was convicted of shooting Louisiana State Police Trooper Donald Cleveland outside Lafayette on July 2, 1977. Prejean, who was 17 at the time, had already served juvenile time for killing a Lafayette cab driver at age 14. Prejean's final statement, addressed to his supporters and the family of Trooper Cleveland, was:
"Nothing is going to be accomplished. I have peace with myself. I'd like to thank all of those who supported me all these years.
"I'd also like to thank my loved ones for being strong. . . . My son will be a better person for not letting something like this bring down his life. . . . Keep strong, keep pushing, keep praying.
"They said it wasn't for the revenge, but it's hard for me to see, to understand. I hope they're happy.
"So I forfeit my life. I give my love to all. God bless."
Andrew Lee Jones was executed on July 22, 1991. Jones was convicted of kidnapping, raping, and strangling Tumekica Michelle Jackson, his former girlfriend's 11-year-old daughter, in Baton Rouge on February 18, 1984. Jones was the last man electrocuted in Louisiana before the state switched to lethal injection. Jones made no final public statement at his execution. Speaking at a Pardon Board hearing three days before he was executed, he said:
"There's a possible chance I did it, a possible chance I didn't do it. If I had not been drunk, nothing like that would have happened.
"I'm like anybody else. . . I don't want to die or anything like that."
Robert Wayne Sawyer was executed on March 5, 1993. Sawyer was convicted in the rape, beating, burning, and mutilation of babysitter Frances Arwood in Gretna on September 28, 1979. Sawyer's co-defendant, Charles Lane, received a life sentence. Sawyer was the first man lethally injected in Louisiana. Sawyer's final statement was:
"I would like to tell young kids who might read this, that drinking and handing (sic) with the wrong people will get you where I am sitting right here and I hope that nobody else ever has to go through what i have gone through, expecially (sic) young kids.
"I'm sorry for any hurt and pain they say I caused. I have no hard feelings toward anyone.
"I just want my sister, my brother-in-law, my son, all of my family and friends to know that I love them and I'll be waiting on them in heaven."
Thomas L. Ward was executed on May 16, 1995. Ward was convicted of killing Wilbert John Spencer, his wife's stepfather, in New Orleans on June 23, 1983. He also shot Lydia Spencer, his wife's mother. Ward's trial featured testimony that he had sexually abused many children, including the woman who later married him and his own 10-year-old daughter. Ward declined to make a formal statement in the room before he was executed, but he dictated these last words to his attorney:
"I am leaving the world at peace with myself and with the Almighty. I feel remorse for the things that I did. I hope that young people today will learn that violence is not an answer. I hope the legal system learns that lesson, too. The death penalty is not a solution."
Antonio G. James was executed on March 1, 1996. James was convicted of the robbery and murder of Henry Silver on January 1, 1979, in New Orleans. James had also been sentenced to life for the January 23, 1979, murder of Alvan Adams, during another robbery, and 99 years for another armed robbery. His case was documented in the ABC News program "Judgment at Midnight." When James was brought into the execution chamber, he declined a final statement, saying:
"I don't want to say anything."
Warden Burl Cain, who was holding James's left hand when James was put to death, said James's final words to him were:
"Bless you."
John A. Brown, Jr., was executed on April 24, 1997. Brown was convicted in the stabbing death of Omer Laughlin in a robbery attempt outside a New Orleans restaurant on September 7, 1984. Brown's final statement was:
"Let my baby sister know I love her and the rest of my family, for supporting me. I love you very much.
"I'm ready to go now."
As he felt the lethal drugs enter his system, Brown last word was:
"Wow!"