The most amazing last wishes before the death penalty. Confession before execution
This question should be divided into two parts.
1. How does a person sentenced to death feel while waiting for a long time.
2. How does a person feel immediately before execution.
Most people sentenced to death perceive the sentence as a deep tragedy, but there is also a diametrically opposite reaction. When American Leonard Laws (Missouri) learned of the death sentence, he was seized with uncontrollable laughter. He refused to apply for clemency or any appeals in his case.
Long waits for execution sometimes lead to paradoxical cases. Thus, in November 1986 in Jamaica, two convicts who had been waiting for execution for more than 5 years committed suicide in their cells. American Perry Smith, awaiting execution in a Kansas state prison in 1960-1965, tried to commit suicide by hunger strike. S.P. Melgunov writes about a Tatar in Butyrka prison who cut his throat with a piece of glass while waiting to be taken away to be shot. As the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture noted in a 1988 report to the Commission on Human Rights, if “those sentenced to death have to wait a long time before they know whether the sentence will be carried out or not” and “if uncertainty... continues several years... The psychological consequences of this can only be compared with severe mental suffering, which often leads to serious physical disorders..."
Let me give you a few examples from the lives of death row inmates.
“We were brought into a terrible cell under strong escort at about 7 pm. Before we had time to look around, the bolt clanged, the iron door creaked, and the prison authorities entered, accompanied by prison observers.
- How many of you are here? - Looking around the camera, the authorities turned to the headman. - Sixty-seven people. - How about sixty-seven? “They dug a grave for ninety people,” the authorities said, perplexed, but completely calmly, epically, even as if reluctantly.
The camera froze, feeling the breath of death. Everyone seemed numb.
“Oh, yes,” the authorities realized, “I forgot, thirty people will be shot from the Special Department.”
Nightmarish, endless, long hours of waiting for death dragged on. The priest who was in the cell miraculously retained the pectoral cross, put it on, fell to his knees and began to pray. Many, including one communist, followed his example. The sounds of an out-of-tune piano were heard in the cell, hackneyed waltzes were heard, at times giving way to rollickingly cheerful Russian songs, tearing apart the already sick soul of the condemned prisoners - this was rehearsed by cultural educators in the premises of the former prison church, located next to your cell. Thus, by an evil irony of fate, life and death were intertwined."
Here are fragments from letters from those sentenced to death, which were collected by V. G. Korolenko, an active fighter against the death penalty in pre-revolutionary Russia.
"I will write to you, but I warn you that I am an illiterate, undeveloped and poorly read person. I feel very good. Death is nothing for me. I knew that it would be sooner or later, but it had to happen. I was sure in the wild that I would be hanged or they will actually shoot you somewhere. So, comrade, can death seem terrible to me? Yes, of course, not at all. I don’t know about others, but before the trial and after the trial I was in the same mood: only offensive. They sentenced one innocent person. I couldn’t resist in court and shouted to the judges... For this I was punished by a “conscious convoy”..."
“You ask how I spend my time. It’s difficult to determine. I can’t take myself into account in this case. One thing I can say is that I’m mentally calm. Very calm. Outwardly, one might say, cheerful. From morning to night we laugh, talk various anecdotes, humorous of course. Of course, sometimes a question about life comes to mind. You think for a few minutes and try to forget it all because everything is already over for me on this earth, and once it’s over, you try to push away such thoughts and not raise them. in my head. I see that there is very little time left for life, and in such short minutes I can’t solve anything. Rather than rack my brains in vain, it’s better to forget all this and spend the last time more fun. I can’t define myself: I feel like I’m crazy. .Sometimes I want to get poisoned. To get poisoned when I feel like it. I really don’t want to go to the backyard to die, and even in wet weather, in the rain, it’ll get you all wet. : taken at night (this tradition of being taken away for execution at night was preserved in Soviet prisons and under Stalin). Just when you wake up, they wake you up and disturb you... It would be better to get poisoned..."
“I feel nothing. I’m even surprised that there hasn’t been any upheaval in my soul. It’s as if nothing has happened...”
“We go to bed at three o’clock in the morning. This is constant. R. taught us to play preference, and we got so carried away by it that we played as if for fun. We got very carried away. There is both regret from losing and little joys from winning No one seems to notice any loss of spirit. If you look from the outside and don’t know that we are sentenced to death, then you can be considered simply people serving a sentence, but if you observe us, knowing that death awaits us. , you might probably think that we are abnormal. Indeed, you yourself have to be surprised that we are so cold-blooded... You literally forget about what awaits us. This, in my opinion, happens because you are not sitting alone.. As soon as someone gets sad, someone else tries, perhaps unintentionally, to tear him away from difficult thoughts and involve him in a conversation or something else... They find moments of some kind of causeless anger, they want to do something evil to someone. dirty tricks. As far as I have observed, if such a person gets worried and vents his anger in swearing, he will gradually calm down. Some people are affected by singing at such moments. Tighten something - he will support it."
“Life has to be counted in minutes, it’s short. Now I’m writing this note and I’m afraid that the doors are about to open and I won’t finish. How bad I feel in this ominous silence! A barely audible rustle makes my heart beat anxiously... The door will creak. .. But it’s downstairs. And I start writing again. I heard footsteps in the corridor, and I run to the door. No, again it’s a vain alarm, it’s the guard’s steps. My head feels stuffy and weak. on the pillow. But I still need to finish the note. What did I want to write to you about? Yes, about life! Isn’t it funny to talk about it when death is here, next to you? Yes, I feel it not far from me. I have her cold breath on me, her terrible ghost haunts my eyes... You get up in the morning and, like a child, you rejoice that you are still alive, that you still have a whole day to enjoy life, but the night brings so much torment - it’s difficult! convey... Well, it’s time to finish: about two o’clock in the morning. You can fall asleep and be calm: they won’t come for me today.”
“I haven’t written to you for a long time. I fantasized everything, but I couldn’t figure it out with my sick brain. I am currently in complete ignorance, and this is tormenting me terribly. I’ve been sentenced for two months now, and yet they still won’t hang me. Why are they protecting me? Maybe they are mocking me? Maybe they want me to suffer every night in anticipation of death? Yes, comrade, I can’t find words, I can’t express on paper how I suffer at night. Something - quickly! "
Yes, the longer a person waits for execution, the more difficult this test affects his psyche. Criminologist Robert Johnson conducted a survey of death row prisoners in Alabama prisons in 1978. Most of the 35 respondents could not think about anything other than the upcoming execution. They were haunted by thoughts about how execution in the electric chair would take place, the effect of current on the body, they vividly and in every detail imagined the execution in their imagination. They cared about how they would behave when they came for them and were taken to the execution chamber; will they experience hysteria, a nervous breakdown; Will the execution be painful? how memories of the execution will affect their families. Such and similar thoughts have become obsessive for many convicts.
Some were constantly haunted by nightmares in which the entire execution procedure took place stage by stage... The prospect of losing their lives and the feeling of the futility of maintaining any connections often led to the fact that the convicts showed less and less desire to meet with relatives and friends. The loss of connections with the outside world and the isolation of prisoners on death row gave rise to a feeling of abandonment, which led to a state that R. Johnson called “the death of the individual”; in some cases, this condition arose long before the moment of execution. This condition is characterized by deep depression, apathy, loss of sense of reality, physical and mental degradation.
American photographer Michael Graczyk visited more than 300 executions of convicts in the state of Texas. For more than 30 years, he photographed the faces of dangerous criminals sentenced to capital punishment. Michael's most extraordinary photographs are those in which he captured the last smiles on the faces of prisoners. The photos were taken shortly before the execution of the sentence, but it is not at all clear from the faces of these people that they have so little time left to live.
Raphael Halliday, 36 years old
Found guilty of arson that resulted in the deaths of his 18-month-old daughter Justice and her two half-sisters, Jasmine DuPaul, 5, and Tierra Lynch, 7, at their home in Madison County, Texas, in September 2000. Photo taken October 28, 2015. On November 18, 2015, the death sentence was carried out.
Cleve Foster, 48
Found guilty of raping and murdering a 30-year-old woman in Fort Worth in 2000. The execution of the sentence was delayed three times by the US Supreme Court, twice - several hours before the execution. Photo taken on August 29, 2012. On September 25, 2012, the sentence was carried out.
Robert Gene Garza, 30
Found to be an accomplice in the murder of four women - employees of Garcia's bar, Donna, Texas, shot in a car in the Rio Grande Valley, Donna, Texas, on September 4, 2002. Police found 61 gun casings at the crime scene. The shooting was an attempt to eliminate witnesses to another murder committed in 2001 year, in which the leader of the Tri-City Bombers gang, of which Garza was a member, was suspected. The photo was taken on July 24, 2013. On September 19, 2013, the death sentence was carried out.
Adam Kelly Ward, 33
In 2005, he quarreled and shot and killed Michael Walker, a municipal service employee who arrived to document a dump in Ward's house and backyard. Nine bullet holes were counted in the dead man's body. Photo taken on February 10, 2016. On March 22, 2016, the death sentence was carried out.
George Raivas, 41
In December 2000, members of his gang attacked workers at the John Connolly Maximum Security Prison in Texas, stole their clothes, stole guns from the prison warehouse, and fled on a prison bus. After committing several robberies, they shot and killed 27-year-old Aubrey Hawkins after 11 days on the run. The photo in which Raivas talks about his participation in the incident was taken on February 15, 2012. The death sentence was carried into effect on February 29.
Willie Trotti, 45
Sentenced to death for the murder of his estranged common-law wife, Barbara Canada, and her brother, Titus Canada. The prosecution claims that Trotti threatened to kill Barbara if she did not return, which is why she obtained a protective order prohibiting him from approaching her. Photo taken July 30, 2014. On September 10, the death sentence was carried out.
Lester Bower, 67
He spent 31 years awaiting execution and became the oldest prisoner executed in Texas since the return of capital punishment: he was 67 years old at the time of execution. According to the court's decision, in 1983, Bower shot and killed four men in an airplane hangar north of Dallas, Texas, in order to steal a microlight aircraft that he had previously agreed to buy for $4,500. Bower had several witnesses on his side, and the murder weapon was never discovered. Bower's photograph was taken on May 20, 2015, and his execution took place on June 3, 2015.
Bobby Woods, 42 years old
He was sentenced to death for the 1997 rape and murder of 11-year-old Sarah Patterson, the daughter of his ex-girlfriend. He was also sentenced to 40 years in prison for kidnapping the girl's younger brother, 9-year-old Cody Patterson, whom he then took to a cemetery, where he beat him unconscious and abandoned him. Woods was sentenced on May 28, 1998, but a Texas appeals court delayed his execution after the defendant's lawyers reported his low IQ (70 in the years leading up to the murder). This, according to the decision of the US Supreme Court, excludes the use of capital punishment. On December 3, 2009, hours before his death sentence was to be executed, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected 42-year-old Woods' clemency appeal. The photo was taken on October 28, 2008.
Joseph Rice, 29
Convicted of the home invasion and murder in 1999 of 64-year-old Robert Ratliff, with whom he maintained friendly relations and lived with him shortly before the incident. After a disagreement over missing items, Ratliff kicked Rice out of the house. Soon, Rice stole an older friend's pickup truck, and later returned to the house with an accomplice, took his wallet, the keys to a Lincoln Continental, and shot the sleeping Ratliff three times. Photo taken on August 20, 2008. The execution took place on October 21.
Hank Skinner, 54 years old
Convicted of murdering his girlfriend Twyla Busby and her two sons in 1993. Busby was bludgeoned to death; her children died from multiple stab wounds. The photo was taken on December 16, 2009, three months before the first scheduled execution date, which was later postponed several times. In particular, in 2010, the court ordered a delay 20 minutes before the execution of the sentence, because Skinner's defense demanded a DNA test, which the prosecutor considered unnecessary at the trial in 1994. In 2012, a DNA test confirmed that the blood at the crime scene belonged to Skinner, but other traces of DNA belonged to another person, whose identity has not been established. Skinner was again found guilty; The defense intends to appeal the decision to the Texas Court of Appeals.
Carla Faye Tucker, 38
Carla Faye Tucker is found guilty of murdering her acquaintance Jerry Lynn Dean with a pickaxe. The murder was committed during an attempted theft of a motorcycle from the victim's home in 1983 in Houston, Texas. Once in prison in 1984, she converted to Christianity and soon married the prison priest. Her transformation led to the emergence of a noticeable protest movement - Pope John Paul II and UN Commissioner Bakr Ndiaye petitioned for her pardon. Carla Tucker, 38, was executed on February 3, 1998. She became the first woman to be executed in Texas since 1863.
Only in MK - an interview with the executor of death sentences in Belarus
Belarus is waiting.
The country is waiting for President Alexander Lukashenko's reaction to the death sentence for Minsk terrorists handed down by a judge.
Execution cannot be pardoned...
Where will the head of state draw a comma?
Especially when thousands of people signed a petition to pardon the young people. Among the signatories there are also victims of the terrorist attack. It turns out that the country does not believe in the guilt of young guys?
How the death penalty is carried out in Belarus, what the relatives of the condemned think at this moment, what the condemned ask for before execution - in an exclusive interview with Oleg Alkaev to MK. The man who led the execution squad.
Oleg Alkaev.
Oleg Alkaev is the only person in the post-Soviet space who does not hide the fact that he worked as an executioner for 10 years. He is responsible for more than 130 executions. True, he never pulled the trigger himself. Alkaev was the head of the execution brigade.
This man's revelations are shocking.
“No one refused to work in the firing squad. A person gets used to everything"
— Oleg, how many people were in your brigade?
— My team included 13 people along with me. This is the optimal number of people that made it possible to carry out the execution of death sentences without problems. Some people took the convict out of the cell, others transported him to the execution center, and still others shot him and buried him.
— Was there a backup team in case of illness of one of your subordinates?
— Such a replacement was not envisaged. We always managed on our own.
— How were the personnel selected for the execution team?
— When selecting personnel for the special forces, education or position did not matter. We recruited people with a stable psyche, physically healthy and not burdened with family and household problems. As a rule, all these people already had experience communicating with prisoners. No one needed any special training or preparation. All training was conducted within the unit. There were no psychologists on the team either. You could say that I served as both a psychologist and a mentor for the guys. As a rule, exclusion from the special group was made either for health reasons or due to retirement.
— After such work, none of your subordinates went crazy?
- No one ended up in a mental hospital. There were depression and minor nervous disorders. But this is a completely normal state of a person who is faced with executions for the first time. I also experienced similar feelings at first. Then it passed...
— How did you relieve stress?
— Employees of the special group were allowed to drink alcohol, but within reasonable limits and only after work. There were no drunkards in the group.
— Did anyone from your team quit of their own accord?
— Strange as it may seem, I don’t know of any cases of voluntary refusal to work in a firing squad. Understand that a person gets used to everything. To this kind of work too.
— Was such work paid separately? What fee was paid for the execution?
- Naturally, additional remuneration was due for extracurricular work outside of school hours. I will not name the amount of the reward, I will only say that it was very small.
— Why did you agree to lead the firing squad?
— My leadership of the firing squad began simultaneously with taking office as the head of the pre-trial detention center. The instructions allowed me to refuse this work, but this would be regarded as a sign of weakness, which called into question my ability to be a leader at all. To be honest, I don’t remember any cases of voluntary refusal to lead a special group. I, like all newcomers, initially experienced stress and other negative consequences of this work. But the situation did not allow me to succumb to emotions and feelings, so I participated in subsequent procedures as a sane and adequate team leader. The first stress, like all other novice colleagues, was relieved with vodka. Then I learned to do without it.
— Surely the most terrible thing for newcomers was the first execution?
— Execution of a death sentence is not a heroic act, but a rather disgusting event, and even more so a spectacle. All team members understood this, although no one ever spoke about it out loud. Participating in the death penalty process for the first time causes extreme stress for any normal person. Experienced employees always supported newcomers and tried to protect them from the most emotional moments. But the newcomers quickly learned to abstract themselves from everything that was happening, and soon they could be entrusted with performing any functions.
— Do you remember your first execution?
— At the beginning of my activity as the head of the firing squad, the execution procedure took place in a forest area. People were brought into the forest, taken out of the car and shot one by one. The car with other convicts waiting their turn was located two dozen meters from the grave. Can you imagine the condition of the convicts? Later, I decided to move the execution of punishment indoors. This outwardly looked more civilized, although it increased the amount of work: it was necessary to pack and load the corpses, then bury them, while in the forest the condemned walked to the grave on their own feet.
— Where then did they begin to carry out the sentence?
— The place of execution of the sentence was determined by the group leader depending on the circumstances. Special instructions gave this right. The sentence could be enforced either directly in the area where the convicted person was buried, or in a special room. The room where the executions were carried out was a building disguised as a household facility. Its location is classified, and I cannot name it - since, perhaps, people sentenced to death are still shot there.
Somalia, 2009. They are preparing to stone a man sentenced to death.
“The procedure for communicating with relatives of death row inmates is much more stressful than the execution process itself”
— Oleg, as far as I know, the bodies of those executed are not given to relatives. Where are suicide bombers buried?
— I cannot speak about the burial place of the convicts. This is not my secret! This is provided for by Belarusian legislation, and I will not violate it even now. Let me just say that the burial places are nameless. We did not leave any signs, bumps, twigs or other signs of burial.
— Cremation could make the burial task easier. Why is it prohibited in Belarus to cremate such convicts?
— A proposal for cremation was made to me in May 1999 by former Minister of Internal Affairs Yuri Sivakov. At that time, I did not yet know that the minister’s proposal hid a double meaning. Thus, on behalf of the then Secretary of the Security Council, Viktor Sheiman, he sought ways to destroy political opponents of the ruling elite without a trace. I was categorically against it. He explained that the crematorium employees could “decipher” the members of the firing squad, which would harm us. And they agreed with me.
— Did all the members of the execution brigade observe secrecy?
— Members of the group for the execution of death sentences were well under cover. We were forbidden to even discuss the topic of execution among ourselves. None of our loved ones knew what we were doing. With such news we would cause psychological trauma to our loved ones. It is unlikely that a person is able to calmly accept the news that his husband, brother, father is an executioner. The possibility of revenge on the part of the relatives of those executed was not excluded.
— As the head of a pre-trial detention center, did you have to communicate with the relatives of those sentenced to death?
“The procedure for communicating with such relatives is morally much more stressful than the execution process itself. Meeting the mothers of criminals was the most difficult test for me. Women had hysterics, fainting, people asked the most absurd questions, put forward ridiculous proposals. I had to listen patiently. For example, the mother of one convicted person offered me money to simulate execution. She asked to indicate the burial place in order to have time to dig up the body of her allegedly shot son, in order to then take him out of the country. But another woman, who did not justify her son who committed the murder of a policeman, insisted on shooting his accomplices, who were sentenced to life imprisonment. The instructions prohibited me from commenting in any way on the execution of the sentence. I could only utter the words prescribed by the same instructions: “Departed by sentence.” Where he went and why was not explained. Such information gave rise to many rumors and speculations. There was an opinion that those sentenced to death were taken to Russia to defense enterprises with very harmful production. We did not refute this legend. On the contrary, they supported this version in conversations with relatives of the convicted. Of course, not everyone believed, but most of them hoped for just such an outcome.
— How was the death penalty carried out?
- Only execution! The shot was fired from a pistol with a 6PB9 silencer. The shot from this pistol was the most muffled and did not reach the ears of other convicts waiting for their turn.
— Before a person is shot, does he have the right to one last request? For example, smoke a cigarette...
— We followed the instructions. The clause about the last will of the defendant was missing there. I personally do not remember a case where any desire came out of the mouths of the condemned. Once, however, a request was made to shoot in the heart. But none of our brigade paid attention to these words.
— We often hear from convicts: “Better death than life behind bars.”
- Don't believe these words! Death is always scary. Even natural. But when life is taken by other people, death becomes immensely terrible. And there is no need to believe those who complain about life imprisonment, assuring that it would be better if he was shot. No one took away his right to die voluntarily. And even in prison there are dozens of ways to commit suicide. But suicide in prison is a rare occurrence. I remember only one case when two convicts, a few days before the execution of the sentence, hanged themselves in turn on the same rope. Calculating the frequency of the guards going around the cells, about 8-10 minutes. At first he hanged himself alone. The second one managed to take him out of the loop, lay him on the bed and lie down himself. Then, after going around, he also climbed into the loop, where he was discovered.
— I heard that those sentenced to death go crazy while waiting for the verdict to be announced?
— People awaiting a death sentence are constantly under the highest nervous tension. This is something like a skydive without a parachute, where there is a faint hope of a haystack. Naturally, during the execution of a sentence, tension reaches the highest limits of the human body. It is difficult to determine the stage of insanity, but inadequacy and prostration are observed in almost everyone. Convicts are characterized by obedience and complete lack of will. It is difficult to single out something individual. In my memory, only a few people before the execution of the sentence looked more or less sane and realized what was happening to them. These were believers.
The Americans introduced the gas chamber in 1924. Potassium cyanide vapor was used for execution, and if the condemned person breathed deeply, death occurred almost immediately.
“The date of execution of the sentence is not announced to the convicted person until the last minute. But, undoubtedly, he intuitively senses its approach."
— They say that Belarusian investigators are capable of bringing any person to a verdict without any special evidence or witnesses?
— With regard to the work of Belarusian investigators, the question is not posed quite correctly. Without evidence it is impossible to prove a crime. Another thing is how is evidence obtained? In the practice of Belarusian justice, there have been cases when evidence was manipulated, falsified or planted. This was the case in the case of the Vitebsk maniac Mikhasevich, where 13 innocent people were convicted through such treatment of evidence. Moreover, one of them was shot. As for the capabilities of the operational apparatus of prisons, it should be noted that these are very strong structures capable of solving the most complex operational tasks. In matters of solving crimes, the operational apparatus of places of deprivation of liberty are guided by the proactive tasks of the internal affairs bodies, the prosecutor's office, the KGB and other initiators. However, there is always a threat of using the capabilities of this apparatus to solve problems that are in no way related to the activities of the internal affairs bodies and the penitentiary system. Namely, as a repressive apparatus. So, for example, in 2011, the operational units of the DIN system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus, instead of fighting recidivism, focused all their activities on discrediting the leaders of political parties and movements who found themselves in prison. Convicted presidential candidates Andrei Sannikov and Mikola Statkevich, political prisoners Dmitry Dashkevich and Mikola Autukhovich, as well as many others who had the misfortune of disagreeing with the results of the presidential elections in Belarus in December 2010, were and are still being subjected to severe repression.
In 1980, Nikolai Terenya was shot instead of the maniac Mikhasevich.
Gennady Mikhasevich, executed for the murder of 36 women in 1988.
— Let's return to the death penalty. What kind of cells are death row prisoners in?
— Death row cells are located in a basement block isolated from other cells, access to which is limited. The camera is designed for two people. There is an additional locking device on the doors, which can only be opened from the remote control of the pre-trial detention center duty officer. Convicts sentenced to death are not taken for a walk. The doors to their cells are opened only in the presence of the pre-trial detention center duty officer and with a heavy duty of inspectors. All removals of persons from cells are carried out only by order of the head of the institution.
— Is the date of his death announced to the convicted person in advance?
— A person sentenced to death does not know the date of execution of the sentence, so he waits for it every day. No one knows about this date at all, except for the leader of the firing squad, since he determines it. It happens like this. After receiving a decree from the president refusing a pardon, the head, according to instructions, has exactly one month to carry out the sentence. The date of execution will be determined depending on various conditions. Including weather. Even such little things as the transfer received by the suicide bomber were taken into account. I always gave him the opportunity to finish the food I brought him. The convicts also knew this and were incredibly happy when they received the transfer. This guaranteed them a few days of some relaxation from the anticipation of death. Also, sentences were never executed on weekends. And the point here is not about humanism, but about the danger of “deciphering” the team members in front of the pre-trial detention center employees. Systematic gathering of the same employees on rest days and “linking” them to the removal from death row, taking them outside the pre-trial detention center could not have gone unnoticed by the duty shifts.
— And yet, when the day of sentencing arrives, how is this announced to the convicted person? How is he behaving?
XIX century. Death penalty by burning. America.
“The death sentence destroys the ‘criminal fraternity’. The man sentenced to death begins to rat out his accomplices.”
— When a judge announces a death sentence, this does not mean that the sentence will be carried out tomorrow. This is followed by a petition to the President for a pardon. Does everyone make such a request to the president?
— There have been cases of refusal of requests for pardon. But this is extremely rare. People who committed terrible crimes and themselves realized the meaninglessness of such a petition did not ask for pardon. As a rule, these were convicted of rape and murder of minors.
— Relatives of the convicted person are fighting to the last to have the sentence overturned, and those sentenced to death themselves are trying to somehow delay the date of the sentence?
“Of course, at all stages of waiting for the president’s decision on pardon, the struggle for the lives of the convicted continues. Both themselves and their relatives. Lawyers at this stage are already powerless. Convicts, as a rule, “remember” new circumstances of the case, which, in their opinion, make it possible to mitigate their guilt, or introduce new defendants into the case. They often write confessions for the crimes of others - in the hope that a new investigation will open and prolong his life. Cases of feigning illness are useless, because according to the instructions, any medical assistance is provided only in the cell.
— Roughly speaking, after a sentence a person begins to hand over his accomplices to the crime?
— The death sentence destroys the “criminal brotherhood.” And former accomplices who have been sentenced to death often begin to diligently tell the “truth” - naturally, downplaying their participation in the crime and loading the rest of the criminals to the limit with what they did. But since this “epiphany” occurs after the verdict is passed, such confessions no longer influence the decision made by the court and are regarded as a way of evading responsibility. However, there was a case when a convict, having accidentally noticed the mother of his accomplice on a date, turned to me and declared that he took all the blame upon himself and asked to shoot him alone. I promised to do my best and said that his accomplice would definitely survive him. At that time, they had only a few days to live. I kept my word. Of course, they were both shot. And in one day. But the accomplice actually outlived his accomplice by 10-15 minutes. I don’t know whether this gave him satisfaction, but before the execution I reminded him of this and said that I had done everything in my power. He was, in my opinion, relatively conscious. In any case, he nodded his head, confirming that my words were clear to him.
—Have you often talked with those sentenced to death? What do they say, what do they ask for, knowing that they have little time left to live?
“Due to my duty, I often had to meet with suicide bombers. The most unusual statements came from them. I took it calmly. Everyone has the right to save their life. Even sentenced to death. Some put pressure on the feelings of their relatives, demanding to seek a meeting with the president or other influential persons, including the Pope. Someone wrote letters to their loved ones that they would soon be dismantled alive for donor organs. We either censored such statements or did not send them, so as not to cause unnecessary suffering to parents.
— Were you required to sign a non-disclosure agreement when applying for such a position?
— Any employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs gives a signature on non-disclosure of official or state secrets upon joining the service. I also signed such a document - after all, I worked for many years as the head of a pre-trial detention center. But I broke the law - because the current government itself allowed the publication in the media of my testimony, which was classified as “top secret” in a criminal case. In these publications I was called the leader of the firing squad. The activities of the unit I headed, which are not subject to disclosure, were also described. After that I was forced to emigrate from the country. It was not safe to stay there.
- What are you doing now?
— I left for Germany. I got housing here, took courses to learn German, and lived on benefits for several years. Then I began to master the professions that were most suitable for me. Finally I made up my mind. Completed driver courses. He got a job as a small bus driver at the Berlin travel agency Russian Post. In addition, in the evenings I work in a Russian store on a special cleaning unit. I hardly have any days off. Which makes me immensely happy. In Germany, any work is honorable. And when my friends and former colleagues make fun of me, I answer them like this: “My competitors in employment for my jobs were and remain to this day two associate professors and one professor.” And it's not a joke.
- If you had a chance to live another life, would it have the death penalty?
“You know, if I had a chance to live my life again, I wouldn’t change anything about it.” Sometimes thoughts crossed my mind: was it worth giving the best years of my life to communicating with bandits? But when I met politicians, I suddenly felt like a happy person, because I realized that all my life I had dealt with decent people...
- Let's imagine that tomorrow you will again be offered to return to that very position of executioner, would you agree?
“I have always treated the death penalty as a necessary evil. And today my opinion regarding this type of punishment has changed little. Therefore, today I would never agree to participate in executions.
Texas executes more people than any other American state. Sentences are carried out in the Huntsville prison by giving the condemned a lethal injection.
In 2009, the last words of the criminals before the death penalty were made public. The Criminal Justice Department's website has posted a complete list of those executed since 1982. The list includes 441 people, including their names, dates of death and charges. Most of those sentenced to death admit their guilt, ask for forgiveness from their victims and say goodbye to their loved ones. Below are some of them...
And some more facts on this topic:
In the winter of 1976, all of America was buzzing and demanding the death penalty for Gary Gilmore, a murderer from Utah. Gary, a career criminal, killed two people over two days in the summer of 1976. One of the victims worked as a gas station attendant, the other was a hotel manager. The jury unanimously found Gilmore guilty and sentenced him to death. At that time, in the state of Utah there were two options for execution of a criminal's choice: hanging or shooting. Garry Gilmore chose to be shot.
When the time came to die, the criminal was tied to a chair and it was then that he uttered the phrase that later became famous: "Let's do This!" .
Immediately after the execution, the corneas from the criminal's eyes were donated in his will, and Gary Gilmore himself became a real cult symbol. Jack Nicholson was inspired by the story of the killer in the film “The Postman Always Rings Twice”; songs and books were written about him. There is even an opinion that the advertising slogan of the Nike company is "Just do it" it's too reminiscent of Gilmore's farewell words.
James D. French, executed on August 10, 1966, was an American criminal whose death sentence was the last in the history of Oklahoma after the passage of the law abolishing the death penalty. And he was the only prisoner executed this year in the United States. In prison, driven mad by the anticipation of his impending death and afraid of committing suicide, James French killed his cellmate, apparently to force the authorities to carry out the death sentence more quickly.
Already sitting in the electric chair, French said the phrase that became famous: "Well, now they're going to make French fries out of me." After the execution of James D. French, America did not use the electric chair to kill people on death row for more than 13 years, until 1979, when murderer John Spenkelink was fried in the electric chair in Florida.
When Queen Marie Antoinette died from the fatal blow of the guillotine on October 16, 1793, it was a real triumph and celebration for the French revolutionaries present at the execution. The defeated queen, in a white dress and with cropped hair, was transported standing in an open cart through the streets of Paris, to the scaffold installed in the square. When the guillotine blade separated the head from the body, the executioner raised it above his head in a triumphant gesture, but most of the spectators in the square were disappointed by this bloody spectacle.
After all, they wanted to see a 38-year-old broken woman, trembling with fear and begging for mercy, but they watched the courageous and strong queen, who even in the last minutes of her life did not lose her composure. The famous revolutionary and journalist of the 18th century Jacques Hebert wrote in the newspaper: “She remained brave and impudent to the very end. And her last words were the phrase "Forgive me sir, I didn't mean to do" , so Marie Antoinette said to the executioner when she accidentally stepped on his foot while climbing the scaffold.
One of the most famous marshals of Napoleon's time was undoubtedly Michel Ney, whom his soldiers affectionately called "Le Rougeaud" ("ginger") because of the color of his hair, and Napoleon himself considered Ney "the bravest of the brave." After defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, Ney was tracked down and arrested. He was taken into custody and found guilty of treason.
The marshal was shot near the Luxenburg Gardens on December 7, 1815. The most amazing thing in this story is that the soldiers did not want to shoot at the famous hero and Ney had to direct his own execution! He refused to put on the bandage and his last words were the following order: "Warriors, when I give you the command to open fire, you must shoot me right in the heart. This will be my last order to you. I protest against my conviction and I participated in hundreds of battles only for France, and not against it. Soldiers, fire! "
Gutierrez, 28, was executed by lethal injection on March 28, 2007, in Huntsville, Texas, after being convicted of stealing a car and killing its 40-year-old owner. Gutierrez became famous after making a real talk show out of his execution.
His last words: "I want to tell everyone that I deeply regret what happened and I want to thank everyone who has been there for me over the years. Shout out to my sister Doris, my mother, brothers, father and sister. Damn, where is my stunt double , when do I need him so much now?!"
Another death row inmate had a sense of humor and decided to use a play on words in his parting line. Convicted murderer George Appel, before his execution by electric chair in New York in 1928, said this: “Well, gentlemen, are you ready to smell the fragrant smell of a baked apple?”
Prisoner's last name in English. - "Appel", apple in English. - "Apple".
IN THE USA, sentencedto mortal executions Before the execution of the sentence, they are traditionally allowed to eat any last dish they wish. And one suicide bomber took this right very seriously. Thomas J. Grasso was executed in 1995 for strangling an 85-year-old woman with Christmas lights.
For his farewell dinner, he ordered: two dozen steamed mussels, two dozen clams drizzled with lemon juice, a double cheeseburger, 6 barbecue pork ribs, two strawberry milkshakes, half a pumpkin pie with whipped cream, diced strawberries and a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, warmed to room temperature.
Such a long menu confused the kitchen staff and they made a fatal mistake - they forgot to serve the condemned man his spaghetti. The last words of the criminal were: "They didn't give me my spaghetti, I want the press to know about it!"
David Matthews, the Oklahoma shooter, was convicted of first-degree murder. He shot the owner of the house he entered for the purpose of robbery. Shortly before injecting the deadly poison into the blood, he looked at the people present in the room and said with a smile: "I think the governor's phone number is just broken".
His execution was postponed three times at the very last moment. Former Gov. Brad Henry twice granted reprieves to give lawyers time to prove Matthews' innocence. For the third time, the verdict was also postponed at the request of lawyers, who demanded that the drugs used for lethal injection be replaced with others.
Jimmy L. Glassis was executed on June 12, 1987, for the double murder of a couple on Christmas night 1982.
His last words in the electric chair were: "I would prefer to be fishing somewhere instead of here right now" . And who would doubt...
Carl Panzram was an American serial killer, rapist, and arsonist who was hanged on September 5, 1930. Before his death, he confessed to 22 murders and rapes of more than 100...men!
He was an extremely aggressive criminal, even when they put a noose around his neck, he threatened to kill everyone present at the execution and was allegedly even able to spit in the face of the executioner and say: “I wish that the whole human race had one neck so that I could squeeze it with my hands." Answering the executioner's question whether he wants to say his last word. Panzram barked: "Yes, hurry up already, you bastard! While you are doing nonsense, I could already hang a dozen men!"
The state of Texas is the leader in the United States in the number of executions - in thirty-two years, 518 convicts were injected there. In this issue you will find their last words. Miguel Angel Paredes
Date of crime: September 17, 2000
Date of execution: October 28, 2014
Age: 32 years
Charge: together with two accomplices, he shot three people and burned their corpses.
“I want to say to the family of the victim: know that I hope you no longer feel hatred because of what I did. I came into the world as a lion, and I am leaving peacefully, like a lamb. There is peace in my soul. I hope our society understands who else it is hurting. I want to say to those I love: I hope my victims were able to forgive me in their hearts. I myself have forgiven everyone and love everyone. Pray for my soul, I forgive myself. I love you and will wait for you there. Brother, take care of my family. Take care of my beloved girl, mother, sons and everyone I love. Brother Wayne and Brother Joe, thank you! Jorge, don’t think that Luis is completely lost, I will keep an eye on you. Thank you for everything! Lord, heavenly father, I entrust my soul to you, do not leave with care and concern those whom I leave. Warden, I'm ready. Lord, accept my soul. Forgive me, I love you all, I will always be with you. I love you, love you! Lord, my savior, I love you, I love you, I love you!”
Jerry Lee Hogue
Date of crime: January 12, 1979
Date of execution: March 11, 1998
Age: 47 years old
Charge: raped a 27-year-old woman, then tied up her eight-year-old son and neighbors and set the house on fire.
“Mindy, I'm with you, honey. Mindy, I don't know why you're doing this, but I forgive you anyway. You know he's a killer. Why aren't you on my side? He'll do it again, Mindy, you're lucky you're still alive. Say hello to my family. I love them. Mindy, you can stop this. Okay, I'm ready."
Lee Andrew Taylor
Date of crime: April 1, 1999
Date of execution: June 16, 2011
Age: 32 years
Charge: Taylor, a member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, killed a black man by stabbing him multiple times with a homemade dagger.
"Yes, sir. Jennifer, I love you. Rick, take care of yourself. You all hear, when I killed your relative, it was self-defense. Prison is a nasty place. There were eight of them, I was alone. I'm sorry I killed him, but if he had been a saint, he wouldn't have gone to jail. I hope you understand. Baby I love you. I hope people will understand how terribly unfair our justice system is. There are 300 people on death row, but there are no monsters among them. Texas is committing injustice and cruelty. You cannot kill a person just because he himself killed someone. After all, everything in the world changes, right? Life gives us experiences and people change. Mom, I love you and all my friends, we have known each other for a thousand years, and they have always stood up for me. I'm ready to teleport. I hope that when you watch a man die, you will not enjoy it.”
Jeffrey Demond Williams
Date of crime: May 19, 1999
Date of execution: May 15, 2013
Age: 37 years old
Charge: Shot a police officer after stealing a car.
“Cops, you are clowns. Do you want innocent children not to be killed? So that no one shoots your children? And if I kill someone, damn it, slap someone, you immediately want to kill me. But God knows who gets what. Do you understand? I love everyone who loves me. And I don’t love everyone who doesn’t love me.”
David Martinez
Date of crime: July 27, 1997
Date of execution: July 28, 2005
Age: 29 years old
Charge: raped a 24-year-old girl, then strangled her and cut her throat.
“Only the sky and green grass will remain forever. Today is a good day to die."
Benka Adams
Date of crime: September 2, 2002
Date of execution: April 26, 2012
Age: 29 years old
Charge: While robbing a store, he shot and killed a man, attempted to rape two women, and fled the scene of the crime.
“First of all, mom, don't cry. There's no point in crying, we're all going to die. Everyone has their own time, don’t suffer for me. I am strong. I want to tell the family: the old man, the children, dad is very sorry. I love you all and will miss you very much. I want to tell my wife that I love her. The last two years have been the best of my life. Children, mother, nephews - I am very proud of you. I love you all, I love you all very much, I really do. I also want to say to the victims. I'm very sorry that everything turned out this way. I'm not the villain you think I am. I was just an idiot. I made a lot of mistakes. Everything that happened was a mistake. I was a child in an adult world. I messed it up and now I can't fix anything. I was too young to understand it. Please don't keep pain in your heart. You must find a way to get rid of hatred. Believe me, when they kill me, it will not bring you any relief. I hope you find healing. Don't let hatred consume you, figure out how to survive it all. Linda, I thank you. I'm devastated that things turned out this way. Miss Sherry, thank you. And I also want to say to the victims. I'm sorry for everything that happened to you. There is nothing good about this. We will meet again. I love you all, keep your heads up! I came into the world strong and I leave it strong. Warden, proceed. My condolences to the family of the deceased. Any murder is bad, killing is wrong. It should have been different."
Jamie Bruce McCoskey
Date of crime: November 13, 1991
Date of execution: November 12, 2013
Age: 49 years old
Charge: kidnapped a 20-year-old young man and his 19-year-old fiancee and took them to an abandoned house, where he stabbed the man to death and raped the woman.
“This time now is the best of my life. If I had to do it again, I would do everything exactly the same. The angel touched me with his wing. If I had to do it again, I would make sure Dwyer's parents didn't suffer - because I know they do. I know this won't make the pain go away because I have a child myself. Lord, I’m going to say terrible words now. I thank everyone who helped me escape. Thank you, and remember that I love you. Angel, and your family, and everyone who helped me escape. If it kills your pain, so be it. I love you. I'm ready".
Jeffrey Carlton Doty
Date of crime: August 2, 1993
Date of execution: August 16, 2001
Age: 39 years old
Charge: Beating to death with a metal rod an 80-year-old man and his wife, owners of a jewelry store, after they refused to lend him $30 for drugs.
“For almost nine years I have been thinking about the death penalty, about whether it is right or wrong, and I have not found an answer. But I don’t think the world will be a better or safer place without me. If you wanted to punish me, it should have been done the day after that incident, and not now. You won't hurt me now. I had time to prepare, say goodbye to my family and end my life the way I needed to. It all started with a needle - and it ends with a needle. Carl, old man, you were a great friend. I'll keep an eye on you. When you return, tell your daughter that I love her. Tell her that I came here as a man and I am leaving as a man. Everything was cool, old man. Thank you, Shoti. I will be with you every time you take a shower. If you just leave in tears, it won't be worthy of me. If you don't see peace in my eyes, then you don't see me at all. I'll be the first to meet you when you get ready to go to the other side. This is all. I'm ready, boss."
James Lee Clark
Date of crime: June 7, 1993
Date of execution: April 11, 2007
Age: 38 years old
Charge: raped and killed a 17-year-old girl.
“Uh-uh, I don’t know, I don’t know what to say, I don’t know... I didn’t know there was anyone there. Hello".
Brian Roberson
Date of crime: August 30, 1986
Date of execution: August 9, 2000
Age: 36 years old
Charge: During a house robbery, he beat to death its owner, a 79-year-old man, who later confessed to another murder.
“I have already said everything I wanted to my loved ones. You know that I love you all, and you know where we are now. See you when you get there. And here is my last word to you. To all the white supremacists in America who hate blacks, and to all the blacks in America who hate themselves, here are words from my legendary brother Matt Turner: “Kiss my black ass.” Go".
Charles Neely
Date of crime: August 20, 1997
Date of execution: March 20, 2007
Age: 42 years
Charge: During a store robbery, he shot and killed a 25-year-old employee and fled the scene with $4,000.
“In general, I love you all. And you, warden. You are a good friend and a good detective. Doug, thanks for coming from Michigan. Chris, David, I love you. Debra, James, I’m not crying, so you don’t cry either. Don't worry about me. I will be with the Lord, Allah and mommy. And I’ll ask the folder why he didn’t rat you out at the wedding. Randy Greer, bro, I'll be watching you, so stay out of trouble. Do you know why it took so long? They couldn't find a vein. You know, I always hated needles and was always hanging out in the doctor's office. Tell the guys on death row that I didn't need a diaper. I can't think of anything else. Everyone be strong. Now you can finally forget about all this. Don't bury me in the prison cemetery. Bury him next to your mother. Not to the left of the father, but to the right of the mother. Kim Skafer, you are an evil woman! You broke the law. And the judges and judges helped you. You didn't have the facts. You know that you couldn’t see anyone on the film at all! You jumped out of your pants to dig up something against me. And now the state will kill me to cover up this matter. But I'm not crazy, and I'm not suffering. I'm sorry you're stuck here and have to go through all this. And I'm going to where it's better. My time is up. Now let me get ready for the flight. Doug, don't forget Marcie." 
Patrick Brian Knight
Date of crime: August 27, 1991
Date of execution: June 26, 2007
Age: 39 years old
Charge: with an accomplice, he entered the house of his neighbors, held them hostage for several hours, and then took them to a remote location and shot them.
“Yes, so. Thank you, Lord, for giving me friends and those I love. Lord, look down and help the innocent on death row. Help Lee Taylor, Bobby Hines, Steve Woods. We're not all innocent, but they are. And also help Cleve Foster. Melissa, my girl, I love you. I actually didn't want to say anything, but I have to. Jack, Irene, Danny, Doreen, I love you guys. I promised to tell everyone a joke. Death freed me - that's the funniest thing, and I deserved it. Here's another joke: I'm not Patrick Brian Knight, but you still can't stop the execution. Go ahead, I'm done. Come on, Lord, tell me. Melissa, I love you, take care of this little monster for me.”
Carl Eugene Chamberlain
Date of crime: August 2, 1991
Date of execution: June 11, 2008
Age: 37 years old
Charge: raped and then shot his housemate.
“I want you to know, all of you. I want it with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. Thank you for coming here to honor the memory of Falisse Prestle, whom I didn't even know. To celebrate my death. My undoing began on August 2, 1991 and continued as I began to see the beautiful and innocent life that I had taken. I'm very, very sorry. I would gladly die not just once, but many times, so you would know how terribly I regret it. I already said in the interview, hurt me, choke me if you want, I felt just as terrible before this crime. Excuse me! I've always loved life. Thank you for being a part of it. I love you. May the Lord be with us all. May the Lord be merciful to us. I'm ready. Please, don’t hate anyone, because..."
Freddie Lee Webb
Date of crime: December 8, 1985
Date of execution: March 31, 1994
Age: 33 years
Charge: Together with an accomplice, he kidnapped a 26-year-old man and his wife who worked in a restaurant, robbed the cash register and later killed the victim with five shots to the head.
"Peace to you".
Douglas Alan Roberts
Date of crime: May 18, 1996
Date of execution: April 20, 2005
Age: 42 years
Charge: kidnapped and robbed a 40-year-old man, later stabbed him to death and ran over his body with a car.
"Yes, sir. Yes, boss. Okay, I've been hanging around this sweet shop for too long already. Before I go, I want to tell you this. When I die, bury me deep, put a couple of speakers at my feet, put headphones on my head and turn on rock and roll. See you in heaven someday. That's all, boss."