“Is it necessary to have the hood?”
— Robert W. Williams, convicted of murder, electric chair, Louisiana.
Executed December 14, 1983
Williams maintained that when he walked into the A&P supermarket to rob it, he never intended to shoot the on- duty security guard; he said that his sawed-off shotgun went off accidentally. Williams was the tenth prisoner executed since the federal government had reinstated the death penalty seven years earlier.
“The state of Florida is killing an innocent person. The state of Florida is committing a crime, because I am innocent. The death penalty is not only a form of vengeance, but also a cowardly act by humans. I’m sorry for what is happening to me and my family who have been put through this.”
— Angel Diaz, convicted of murder, lethal injection, Florida.
Executed December 13, 2006
It was Diaz’s death that brought a temporary statewide halt to executions by Florida’s then-governor, Jeb Bush. Diaz’s death took thirty-four minutes instead of the typical fifteen. After the initial dose, Diaz’s lawyer said his client was still conscious, moving his mouth for twenty minutes. It took a second dose to end Diaz’s life. Gov. Bush appointed a panel to investigate whether lethal injection could be considered “cruel or unusual punishment,” and all death sentences were put on hold.
Diaz had been convicted and sentenced to death for killing Joseph Nagy, a strip-club manager, with two accomplices.
After a nurse took more than ten minutes to put the needle into his arm:
“You doing that right?”
— Stanley “Tookie” Williams (aka Big Took) , convicted of murder, lethal injection, California.
Executed December 13, 2005
Williams spent his time on death row writing children’s books with peace and antigang messages, donating the proceeds to anti-gang promotion charities. He was nominated for the Nobel Prizes for Literature and for Peace, but Williams’s life before prison had been exactly the opposite. In 1971 he co founded the violent street gang the Crips, and in 1981 he was convicted for the murders of four people. Williams never admitted to the crimes, prompting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to refuse clemency despite appeals from people including Rev. Jesse Jackson and Jamie Foxx, who portrayed Williams in the TV movie “Redemption.