Death Row – Last words of every Texas inmate executed since 1982 | Hacker News Reader

Death Row – Last words of every Texas inmate executed since 1982

tdcj.state.tx.us

160 pointsbpafonso133 comments

Note that this text is in some cases censored. See Cameron Todd Willingham's statement:

"Yeah. The only statement I want to make is that I am an innocent man - convicted of a crime I did not commit. I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did not do. From God's dust I came and to dust I will return - so the earth shall become my throne. I gotta go, road dog. I love you Gabby. [Remaining portion of statement omitted due to profanity.]"

The full text is in fact pretty profane; see http://www.theawl.com/2009/12/cameron-todd-willinghams-real-... .

The New Yorker article which lays out the case for Willingham's innocence omits the latter half of the statement entirely — see last paragraph of http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_... .

I have read that article several times. It fascinates me every time I see someone mention it. I am inclined to believe he was innocent, but have never read an article from anyone who views him as guilty (besides some links to case files)

EDIT: And now I just read the link at awl.com and it is a look for a different angle.

I find it profoundly dissonant that, while reporting the last words of people who were then legally murdered by the state (an inexcusable, brutal injustice, to my mind), the functionaries responsible yet found prissiness enough to cut out the swear words.

State-sanctioned murder? No problemo! A couple of swear words in the victim's dying breaths? Woah, hold it right there - there might be children present.

Unbelievable.

Children should not be present at executions to begin with.

Reminds me of Apocalypse Now. Kurtz: We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't allow them to write "fuck" on their airplanes because it's obscene!

There's a strange sense of morality in being able to execute someone but not show their full last words due to swearing. The US media seems to view the world in a similar way.

It isn't the morality. It is the fear that we'll turn them into martyrs.

I don't think profanity and vitriol is really going to win hearts and minds... well spoken ones such as Napoleon Beazly[1] however are more likely to.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7822629

Hm, for some people they are martirs and for people denying the right of the State to the death penalty, they are martirs because they bear witness to the futility of the act.

Regardless of what they say.

Are you saying that the profanity is censored because it's feared that the man would become a martyr? That makes no sense at all.

This one really hit me:

> The act I committed to put me here was not just heinous, it was senseless. But the person that committed that act is no longer here - I am. I'm not going to struggle physically against any restraints. I'm not going to shout, use profanity or make idle threats. Understand though that I'm not only upset, but I'm saddened by what is happening here tonight. I'm not only saddened, but disappointed that a system that is supposed to protect and uphold what is just and right can be so much like me when I made the same shameful mistake. If someone tried to dispose of everyone here for participating in this killing, I'd scream a resounding, "No." I'd tell them to give them all the gift that they would not give me...and that's to give them all a second chance. I'm sorry that I am here. I'm sorry that you're all here. I'm sorry that John Luttig died. And I'm sorry that it was something in me that caused all of this to happen to begin with. Tonight we tell the world that there are no second chances in the eyes of justice...Tonight, we tell our children that in some instances, in some cases, killing is right. This conflict hurts us all, there are no SIDES. The people who support this proceeding think this is justice. The people that think that I should live think that is justice. As difficult as it may seem, this is a clash of ideals, with both parties committed to what they feel is right. But who's wrong if in the end we're all victims? In my heart, I have to believe that there is a peaceful compromise to our ideals. I don't mind if there are none for me, as long as there are for those who are yet to come. There are a lot of men like me on death row - good men - who fell to the same misguided emotions, but may not have recovered as I have. Give those men a chance to do what's right. Give them a chance to undo their wrongs. A lot of them want to fix the mess they started, but don't know how. The problem is not in that people aren't willing to help them find out, but in the system telling them it won't matter anyway. No one wins tonight. No one gets closure. No one walks away victorious.

http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/death_row/dr_info/beazleynapoleo...

Man. Thanks for posting that. That hits hard.

> Tonight, we tell our children that in some instances, in some cases, killing is right.

> a system that is supposed to protect and uphold what is just and right can be so much like me when I made the same shameful mistake.

And on the flip side... If you let your emotions get the better of you one time, there's always 2nd chance.

Which lesson should be taught to kids?

A second chance to live out the rest of your days in prison. Yeah, I can live with that.

Redemption.

When does Breivik get released?

Brevik is complaining about his video games not being recent enough. He doesn't seem interested in redemption. But while he is alive there is nevertheless the possibility, however slim.

obviously that sometimes killing is right, that vengeance is above justice, and if you don't eat your fucking peas, we'll kill you, too, kid.

How about doing like the Norwegians: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18135537 Their kids (have been taught to) kill less than kids in any American state.

EDIT: Don't know why I can't reply to any post, but the Norwegians actually have a diversity not that much unlike the US (15 percent immigrants / children of immigrants): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Norway

They have a uniform culture. Everything gets easier with a common mindset. Folks keep using Norway as a fish-in-the-barrel ideal case of how anything can work. But its probably not transferable to the population of the most diverse nation on earth.

How does diversity necessitate a higher crime rate? I've heard this stated a lot, but the explanation of how it works is always missing.

Folks with very different ideas of personal space, ownership, community, responsibility will naturally have larger friction between members.

Does that friction actually translate into crime, though?

Further, the racial minority most overrepresented in the prison population in the US has actually been here longer than most, including a substantial chunk of the white majority. Shouldn't that imply full assimilation and smaller differences like you mention?

The US has selective enforcement of laws...minorities are far more likely to be arrested for things like drug use than those in the majority. The US has a social safety net for the poor that's pathetic compared to most EU countries. And the US has employment practices that make it difficult for most people with a criminal record to ever get decent employment again.

Poor, desperate people who feel like their future options are limited are far more likely to commit crimes than those who are financially comfortable and/or believe they have promising futures. Diversity doesn't necessitate higher crime rates, but our diversity combined with our policies does.

Conflates folks of different cultures (and different social expectations) with race? I come from a rural agricultural area. Fighting in public is a popular pastime. Yet if somebody calls the cops, you can end up in the tank overnight. That's clearly not racial but cultural.

> the most diverse nation on earth

Huh? Papua New Guinea?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_ranked_by_eth...

The USA is #85, not even close.

And Norway is #146

I'm not arguing for or against, but the list seems to use language as a basis for cultural diversity. While language might have a correlation with cultural diversity, it doesn't seem fair to use that as an argument for what countries are more culturally diverse. Also, how countries report their numbers greatly impact these sorts of assessments. Lastly, comparing more tribal-based countries with modern countries also makes it tricky.

I wish people would stop saying this. The US isn't even close to being the most diverse nation.

I'm sure Brevik's victims were very proud of that as they bled out.

Norway is 94.4% ethnic Norwegian as of 2014. It just isn't comparable.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Beazley

Crime committed age 17, executed at 25

Interesting from Wiki: victim was the father of a Federal Judge, J. Michael Luttig. During his appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, three of the nine justices recused themselves because of their personal ties to Judge Luttig, leaving six justices to review the case. Justice Antonin Scalia recused himself because Luttig had clerked for him, while Justices David Souter and Clarence Thomas recused themselves from the decision because Luttig had led the George H. W. Bush Administration's successful effort to gain U.S. Senate confirmation for them to the Supreme Court

>But the person that committed that act is no longer here

and if this man wasn't caught and put in prison he would have still been here and victimized others. Look at Chicago's overly liberal justice system and how many of the shootings on the south and west sides are often from repeat offenders given slaps on the wrist for previous serious crimes. When you realize there's no real consequences to your actions then shooting up a street corner for 'cred' becomes a social norm.

While I believe its impossible to fairly administer the death penalty, I do believe it makes the world a safer place. From a practical pov, life is prison does the same thing, so I'm okay with getting rid of it. I think harsher sentences for violent crimes need to be in place and softer for non-violent crimes (drug use, possession, dealing).

Also, the cult of worshiping and pitying criminals is out of control. Not one mention of the victims, their names, how they spend their last minutes on earth, etc. We know all the criminals and treat them as borderline celebrities but are quick to toss the victims down the memory hole. I imagine the 'fame' aspect to serious crime is a motivator that only guarantees more crime.

So you think the error margin of executing the death penalty (and justice in general) can be overlooked with impunity? When one man is being murdered for a purported crime of murder—the gravest crime of the land—doesn't a mistake lead to another crime for which the criminal (this time the judges) should be equally held accountable? But the judge is allowed to prescribe death for all sorts of persons, and goes unpunished (by death) if they made a wicked mistake.

It is for this probable mistake in enacting justice that makes the death penalty really spurious. You could kill an innocent man for no reason at all.

The title should be " ... of every inmate executed in Texas since 1982."

From reddit [1], here is a word cloud:

http://imgur.com/t61UIgH

[1] http://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/26rui7/oc_a...

Interesting comment on that word cloud:

"Wonder what their victims word cloud would look like? "Mercy" "Please" "I'm begging" "I want my Mommy!" "Help""

You have an additional speech mark at the end of that sentence.

> "Help""

He nested quotes. The entire line was wrapper in quotation marks, as well as the individual quotes inside the line. </ocd>

My brain is throwing all sorts of parse errors at that quote full of quotes. This is why we have escape characters! (Or, more realistically, two forms of quotation marks for nesting).

Or separate symbols for the beginning and end of a quote, so nesting is unambiguous. You know, something like:

(quote Wonder what their victims word cloud would look like? (quote Mercy) (quote Please) (quote I'm begging) (quote I want my Mommy!) (quote Help))

Everyone just needs to learn s-expressions.

A professor collaborator of mine has the habit of saying "that does not parse", or "that does not type-check" to nonsensical sentences uttered by clueless research students (full disclosure, that set includes me). At first I found it somewhat weird, but now I've grown to respect it. It totally makes sense.

I remember in high school (when I was already a proficient programmer, but still within-grade in the other sciecnes), struggling with some hard physics problems, and running to my dad for help: he would always say: "dimensional analysis". If only I had connected the dots: doing "dimensional analysis" in your work is _exactly_ the same as type-checking your manually executed paper algorithm. This lightbulb went off in my head approximately a decade too late...

We repeated dimensional analysis in my first physics class until everybody got it ( all six of us... ).

I plugged it into Wordle at http://www.wordle.net

It's quite poignant.

I deleted it afterwards as it didn't seem right to leave it up in public without more thought.

Here's from the first hundred or so: http://i.imgur.com/QBo5WWY.png

# of executions in Texas since 1982 is probably a fair percentage of the total number of executions since that time. Don't have time to look it up, sorry!

I'd wager that it's not even close, unless you're referring to American executions only. China alone has executed in excess of 2000 people each year int the last few years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_capital_punishment_by_c...

Specifically page 31 on the doc - http://www.amnesty.org.au/images/uploads/adp/Death%20Sentenc...

When California released a similar database a few years ago, it completely convinced me of the horrific barbarism that capital punishment is. It is no deterrent to crime, and the risk of killing not just innocent people, but genuinely reformed people, is far, far too great.

Skimming the list, it seems only few of them are really repentant and understood the consequences of what they did. But, for the few of them, especially those referring to their family and children, it is hard to see what benefits their death will bring. Maybe some closure for the victim's family, but in some case, it sounds like the guy being executed as not much more in common with the criminal.

> really repentant and understood the consequences of what they did.

No need to be repentant when you are innocent.

"I don’t think the world will be a better or safer place without me."

If they aren't executed, they will spend the rest of their life in jail. So by executing them our gains are two fold.

1. save tax dollars over keeping them in jail long term

2. give victims families peace

Something to think about.

There is a reasonable debate surrounding whether an execution is more expensive than simply incarcerating for life, mostly because of the numerous appeals involved with a death sentence. I have no opinion regarding capital punishment.

A little more than a decade ago, I had to do research on capital punishment for a college ethics class. In the United States, at that time, the cost for a death row inmate was several times greater than it was for an inmate in for life without parole.

Additionally, there are the questionable convictions and the legal convictions that are subsequently found to have been innocent but for which innocence is no longer considered (e.g. dobbsbob comment about Rob Will - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7822471).

Do those appeals still happen with a life sentence though? Did you compare the yearly cost of housing an inmate vs the cost to execute (including appeals etc)?

I was just identifying and summarizing calculations done by others. Among the calculations I analyzed, all included the cost of appeals and housing.

In many states there were mandatory appeals for death-row inmates which added to their costs. For most other sentences there were more limits on appeals which in-turn limited the life-sentence appeals costs.

There were higher housing costs for the death-row inmates, although I don't remember seeing a breakdown. I always assumed the differences were because of increased security costs. The housing costs were for entire expected sentences, not by year (while a life-sentence inmate would be expected to need housing for a longer time, the costs were still less than a death-row inmate's costs until execution).

Also, in many prisons, the life-sentence inmates could participate in work programs, with some of the related income being funneled back into the prison. At the time I was doing my research I couldn't find any work programs that allowed death-row inmates to participate. So not only were the life-sentence inmates cheaper, they could potentially work to reduce their own costs.

When reworded, I don't know that I'd call your points "gains": 1. Saving some money by killing people 2. Exacting revenge

We might differ in opinion on the role of government, though. Personally, I don't think either task is the job we want our government to be in.

I totally agree with you. I was just speaking as though we needed to justify capital punishment somehow. I also shouldn't use "our" and "we". I live in a country without capital punishment so my perspective is from a far outsider.

Fair enough, and you pulled off playing the part well enough that I believed you might be sincere. :-) Sadly, part of the reason I thought you might be sincere is because those are the two most commonly used reasons for capital punishment. One can fancy it up with language so that it sounds noble and civilized ("victims' families can have closure"), but it boils down to "we're civilized and humane until it costs money" and "the victims' families want to see the motherfucker fry". (I only raise the last point as a counter-argument to those that have no more idea what the victims' families want than I do.)

As for 2. I'd rather say "give victims families a sense of satisfaction" but I would not say "peace" as peace is a positive state (which requires the will of the person). And that "sense" of satisfaction may turn out to be quite wrong if later on they recapacitate and think "well, I might have been satisfied with the criminal still alive" or even "I would like to forgive the criminal".

It doesn't save money. Executing someone costs a ton of money.

The common response to this is something like, "Well, make it cheaper. Stop with all the appeals and other nonsense." The trouble is that we already execute far too many innocent people, and streamlining the process will only make it worse.

To carry out executions in anything resembling a just manner, it pretty much has to be more expensive than imprisoning someone for life.

As for #2, life without parole should be just as final as an execution as far as closure for the victims is concerned.

Ya I was really just responding in context of the parent comment, not necessarily my views. I oppose capital punishment and I don't think someone get's peace/closure from the death penalty.

Yeah, a list like this tugs at your humanity.

Then again, these people wantonly killed others (as judged by juries and appeals judges and governors).

Where are the last words of their victims?

[edited for clarity]

> Then again, these people wantonly killed others

No, some of these people wantonly killed others. Some did not.

> Where are the last words of their victims?

We don't make entertainment of those.

Regardless of how horrific their crimes were we can never really be certain enough of their guilt to kill them. Nor should we give our government power to kill its citizens. I don't know how anyone can believe the death penalty to be a good idea.

1. Look at the countries America is in company with in allowing capital punishment - it's not a list any country should want to be a part of.

2. Imagine yourself as an innocent person on death row. It's very likely there have been people in that situation[1]. Do you still think it should be allowed?

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrongful_execution

Regardless of how horrific their crimes were we can never really be certain enough of their guilt to kill them

That's a strange thing to say categorically. So if we have a lot of witnesses, video, a manifesto of motive, physical evidence, etc... we can't be certain enough to feel that someone should be permanently removed from the world?

IMO no. Witnesses can lie, video can be manipulated, physical evidence can be tampered with. Obviously we can be very close to certain but unless we are 100% certain (which I don't think is possible) killing someone is a big risk.

Concerning "wantonly killed others", look at this link, the concept has completely changed the way I judge behavior of others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error

> Then again, these people wantonly killed others (as judged by juries and appeals judges and governors).

Did they? Or did they have the misfortune of, say, being black?

Attempting to excuse the barbarism of the state and its documented tendency to murder and imprison-for-life people who are Not White just for the fun of it by appealing to those monsters under the bed is fucked.

In the book History of the Peloponnesian War (possibly the first historical text ever written.) There is a passage that remarks about how death does not deter crime. People have been trying to use death as punishment for most of human history and it hasn't made a difference. This was written in 431 BC.

This list is yet another example of how the condemned receive something that neither their victims nor most other convicts get: a ceremonial death. They get last words. A last meal. Last rites with the clergy. Candlelight vigil by those against capital punishment. Final appeals to the courts and to the governor for clemency. Witnesses to the execution. To rot in obscurity would be greater punishment for these people. Instead they get to go out as celebrities, complete with profiles on an official government website. Disgusting.

This is how opposition to the death penalty should be sold instead of pretending that the perp is the victim.

Sometimes the convict is not the perp.

Some of them get to go out as innocents.

What's disgusting is a nation that sinks to the level of those it holds the most in contempt.

The death penalty is wrong on so many levels. And all those safeguards aside there are still innocent people murdered by the state.

It's funny how you'd use 'candle lit vigil by those against capital punishment' in the same list as 'witnesses to the execution'.

And 'to rot in obscurity would be greater punishment for these people' lumps you right in with those against the death penalty.

Disgusting as it may be, there are only a few options here, and none of them are going to make everyone happy.

If you leave them to rot in prison like you suggested, people are going to be upset that the society is paying to keep them alive(surely it would be better to get rid of them?)

If you eventually execute them like some countries do now, some people(like you) are upset that we make a show out of it - we don't. If one occurs it's a result of a judicial system that takes years to reach a final decision,and then we are "too humane" to just shoot people in the head without giving them the last meal.

And of course there is the last option of executing people on the spot - caught a child molester during the act? Why not shoot them right there, it is literally saving the taxpayer millions in costs of trials, judges,lawyers etc. No one can argue that it would not be a huge saving for the society. But I think we can do better than dispensing justice on a whim. As much as I enjoy Judge Dredd comics, I would not like to live in his universe.

Also, one could argue that a much better system would be about rehabilitation,not punishment, and in such system death sentence is simply not needed.

> people are going to be upset that the society is paying to keep them alive

Last time I checked, it was cheaper to keep them in prison for the rest of their lives then to go through all the money in court costs. It might have changed, but the economics favor a lifetime incarceration.

> If you leave them to rot in prison like you suggested, people are going to be upset that the society is paying to keep them alive(surely it would be better to get rid of them?)

I've heard that execution as practiced in the US today is more expensive than life imprisonment.

I know a lot of people who would be okay with us going the cheaper route of putting a bullet in their head rather than the more costly method of injection.

Its not the injection that makes it expensive. Its the years of legal costs.

I'm against capital punishment, but I'm glad that at least the state has higher standards than murderers when it comes to killing people.

Very interesting contra-view. Thank you.

Average age is around 39

  var ages = [],
      sum = 0;
  $('tr').each(function(a,b) {
      var age = $(b).find('td:nth-child(7)').text();
      if (age !== '') {
          ages.push(age);
          sum += parseInt(age);
      }
  });
  console.log(sum / ages.length);

Returns 39.10679611650485

No need to store a list of ages. A simple counter should suffice.

Or just count the number of <tr> elements and subtract one to account for the table header. That's what I did to find the average race.

  $('tr').length-1

And most were White males.

  Blacks: 190 (36.89%)
  White: 230 (44.66%)
  Hispanics: 92 (17.86%)
  Other: 2 (0.39%)
  Total: 515

Texas you don't get the death penalty for murder, you get it for committing a second felony and murder. Rob Will is on Polunsky DR and likely innocent considering he was handcuffed at the time, zero physical evidence, and his partner confessed to the murder. DA is a stepping stone to governor and senate there is much incentive for DAs to seek the death penalty due to all the media attention these trials receive, propelling the DA into a household name. The more inmates you kill the bigger your public profile.

Wasn't aware of his case:

From the judge denying a new trail: “The questions raised during post-judgment factual development about Will’s actual innocence create disturbing uncertainties,” he wrote. “Federal law does not recognize actual innocence as a mechanism to overturn an otherwise valid conviction.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/us/texas-death-row-appeal-...

467

> Yes, Tell my sister Tracey, I love you. Nicole, thank you and I love you. Wanda and all of my friends, I love you and thank you for your support. To the State of Texas, I am an innocent man. Never trust a court-appointed attorney. I am ready Warden. Thank you, Brad, I'm sorry. Check that DNA, check Scott. Here we go. Lord Jesus, Jesus.

I know I shouldn't due to work BUT WOW this guy was clearly should have been a death penalty case! You need a murder with a felony being committed. His felony robbery of a day planner ("found" during the trail) and a missing wallet. Medical Examiner clearly showed the man was innocent. The victim defended herself and was violently beaten and wounded. Defendant had zero wounds and no evidence of crime in his home or his car. Sick sick world.

http://www.skepticaljuror.com/2011/05/impending-wrongful-exe...

Clearly shouldn't be a death penalty case!

I haven't got that far yet, but only one of the five statements I've read has made any kind of apology, and he was already in prison at the time he committed the crime for which he was executed (running over a corrections officer in a stolen truck while trying to escape).

Also surprising to me was how many murders were committed for very little potential gain: theft, escaping from a police officer while under arrest for a petty crime; there's less headline-grabbing evil than I expected here (though there is its share); it's mostly just a mixture of reflexive stupidity, greed, and violence.

All in all quite an unsettling read.

There's also 2 guys declared 'unfit to execute' yet they are still in solitary on death row since the 70s

We have a word cloud and a "greatest hits" list posted here.

Remember that this is more than 500 separate cases worthy of consideration or at least having enough decency to hit the back button rather than dig into such a heavy topic.

What's not cool is turning these words into a Top 10-linkbait list or a variety show or some other mechanism for insulating yourself from the horror of this post.

Folks have published 'famous epitaph' books before - is this different? Of course its black humor, all such topics are by definition. Is it just too soon? If they had all been pre-1950 would that have softened the horror?

Or is it just that the Internet is way too slight of a medium to support Any serious topic? I would tend to agree with that.

I appreciate both. I looked around the full list on the site for a while, and came back here to read comments. I like that people were posting summaries and quotes, because most of them I missed while exploring and some of them contain a lot of wisdom (or just speak to me personally).

I think if you want to see is as people getting karma off the death of someone else, that's ok and you may be correct in some cases, but I see it as more of a gathering and sharing of information that most people don't have the time to do themselves. Or maybe I'm just not seeing the comments you're responding to and they're truly making a mockery.

edit

Just saw a word cloud in the shape of a skull. I see what you mean...

>Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to www.tdcj.state.tx.us

I hope we did that.

>Try reloading: www.tdcj.state.tx.us/death_row/dr_executed_offenders.html

Wow, chrome actually thinks that out to google.com. Sneaky.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us...

Can anybody explain why the Race column is stil there? What is the relevancy of this statistic? Why not sex, or religion?

Because a disproportionate number of people sentenced to death are non-white.

From the data:

  White    231 (44.9%)
  Black    190 (36.9%)
  Hispanic  92 (17.9%)
  Other      2 (0.4%)

As of the 2010 US Census, the racial distribution in Texas was as follows: 70.4% of the population of Texas was White American; 11.8% African American; 3.8%, Asian American; 0.7%, American Indian; 0.1%, native Hawaiian or Pacific islander only; 10.5% of the population were of some other race only; and 2.7% were of two or more races. Hispanics (of any race) were 37.6% of the population of the state, while Non-Hispanic Whites composed 45.3% [0]

The Hispanic portion is difficult to parse, but it certainly seems that African-Americans are very over-represented.

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Texas#Racial_an...

Just to clarify: you're providing this data to support the assertion you're replying to, right? Since 36.9% is about triple the proportion of African-Americans among US citizens in general? (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_Stat...)

It's also the case that a disproportionate number are male.

alternatively, a disproportionate number of people who can afford competent legal representation are white.

Relevancy: Many people believe that minorities are disproportionately sentenced to death.

Then why would the Texas Department of Justice want to draw attention to that?

Because in politics the cover up is often more damaging than the initial transgression? Because the state does not feel that they have done anything wrong and therefore has nothing to gain by appearing to hide information from the public?

Or because there is nothing to hide?

From the data:

  White    231 (44.9%)
  Black    190 (36.9%)
  Hispanic  92 (17.9%)
  Other      2 (0.4%)

No Asian person has been executed?

I think Asian is included under other.

So the proportion of black Texan executionees being three times higher than the proportion of Black Texans isn't in any way noteworthy?

Aren't blacked extremely over-represented in that list?

How do you start from a table that lists percentages that are completely out of line with the percentages in the general population, and turn that into "there is nothing to hide"?

...because it's not.

The New York Times ran an article[1] on this in 2009. Here are the last words they picked out -

---

Go ahead?

Nothing I can say can change the past.

I done lost my voice.

I would like to say goodbye.

My heart goes is going ba bump ba bump ba bump.

Is the mike on?

I don’t have anything to say. I am just sorry about what I did.

I am nervous and it is hard to put my thoughts together. Sometimes you don’t know what to say.

Man, there is a lot of people there.

I have come here today to die, not make speeches.

Where’s Mr. Marino’s mother? Did you get my letter?

I want to ask if it is in your heart to forgive me. You don’t have to.

I wish I could die more than once to tell you how sorry I am.

Could you please tell that lady right there — can I see her? She is not looking at me — I want you to understand something, hold no animosity toward me. I want you to understand. Please forgive me.

I don’t think the world will be a better or safer place without me.

I am sorry.

I want to tell my mom that I love her.

I caused her so much pain and my family and stuff. I hurt for the fact that they are going to be hurting.

I am taking it like a man.

Kick the tires and light the fire. I am going home.

They may execute me but they can’t punish me because they can’t execute an innocent man.

I couldn’t do a life sentence.

I said I was going to tell a joke. Death has set me free. That’s the biggest joke.

To my sweet Claudia, I love you.

Cathy, you know I never meant to hurt you.

I love you, Irene.

Let my son know I love him.

Tell everyone I got full on chicken and pork chops.

I appreciate the hospitality that you guys have shown me and the respect, and the last meal was really good.

The reason it took them so long is because they couldn’t find a vein. You know how I hate needles. ... Tell the guys on Death Row that I’m not wearing a diaper.

Lord, I lift your name on high.

From Allah we came and to Allah we shall return.

For everybody incarcerated, keep your heads up.

Death row is full of isolated hearts and suppressed minds.

Mistakes are made, but with God all things are possible.

I am responsible for them losing their mother, their father and their grandmother. I never meant for them to be taken. I am sorry for what I did.

I can’t take it back.

Lord Jesus forgive of my sins. Please forgive me for the sins that I can remember.

All my life I have been locked up.

Give me my rights. Give me my rights. Give me my rights. Give me my life back.

I am tired.

I deserve this.

A life for a life.

It’s my hour. It’s my hour.

I’m ready, Warden.

---

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/opinion/20cameron.html?_r=...

I am curious why you pasted the entire list of last words from the NYT article in addition to linking to the article? Why not provide a link to the article (maybe a small relevant excerpt) and let people choose if they want stop reading the comments here to read the NYT list?

I personally appreciated the full paste - I generally dislike leaving HN through links if I can.

The one that really stood out for me.

"I don’t think the world will be a better or safer place without me."

The first one I read was already interesting. He talks about being at peace and says a few nice things to his family and friends. The striking thing is that he never mentions the murders he committed. He killed a 51 year old woman, a 24 year old woman (daughter) and a 3 year old child (grandchild). All were stabbed to death. I believe the 24 year old woman was his girlfriend at the time. Saying your sorry, not sorry, or that you were innocent, I'd expect that. But not saying anything at all it really odd. http://murderpedia.org/male.V/v/villegas-jose-luis.htm

Some charts from the data : http://theuforce.blogspot.in/2014/05/visualizing-executed-of...

Execution #492 http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2012-11-02/framing-the-g...

Regardless of the truth, there are a lot of open questions and this man was put to death with all these questions still not answered. This is not who we should be.

Here are some visualizations of this data set:

http://vis.berkeley.edu/courses/cs294-10-fa13/wiki/index.php...

This was an assignment in a Berkeley visualization class taught by Maneesh Agrawala.

Last statements are endlessly fascinating things. I hope that by the time I die that tombstones will have flash storage built into them. You'll push a button on the tombstone and out pops a holograph that projects whatever message the person would like to share. I'd spend days in the cemetery.

One of the best:

"Somebody needs to kill my trial attorney."

George Harris Executed in Missouri on September 13, 2000 for a murder. http://wgrd.com/the-weirdest-last-words-by-death-row-inmates...

Clearly he didn't get a good lawyer.

Maybe he scared away the good lawyers by threatening to murder them.

The title for this is incorrectly applying the public suffix list (https://publicsuffix.org/) and comes up with "tx.us". That's not the registered domain name here.

  // The registrar notes several more specific domains available in each state,
  // such as state.*.us, dst.*.us, etc., but resolution of these is somewhat
  // haphazard; in some states these domains resolve as addresses, while in others
  // only subdomains are available, or even nothing at all. We include the
  // most common ones where it's clear that different sites are different
  // entities.

I may go to hell for this...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K6LOJ8x1dP85CGAMjDwn...

What a disgusting, morally bankrupt society that permits the state to take a life. And then to censor statements? Damn. Nobody is claiming these were good human beings, but disgust isn't nearly strong enough a word.

Absolutely chilling. It disgusts me that we're still killing people for killing people in the 21st century. I hope our descendants look back on this the same way we look back at slavery today.

There are no atheists in foxholes... or on death row apparently.

There are atheists in foxholes, though.

that's.. oddly haunting.

Many more should be added. Start with Aldrich Ames, Bernie Madoff and Robert Hanssen.

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