This week in 1992

“An innocent man is going to be murdered tonight. When my innocence is proven I hope Americans will recognize the injustice of the death penalty as all other civilized nations have.”

— Roger K. Coleman, convicted of rape and murder, electric chair, Virginia.
Executed May 20, 1992

A media flurry, including an appearance on the TV talk show Donahue, fueled speculation that Coleman was innocent of killing his sister-in-law Wanda McCoy, despite evidence to the contrary and his failure of a polygraph test. Coleman’s supporters claimed that another man boasted of the killing and that he did not receive adequate counsel. His last meal included a pepperoni pizza, fudge cookies, and a 7-Up.

Posthumous DNA evidence did not exonerate him.