This week in 1998

“I am sorry for what I did to your mom. It isn’t because I’m going to die. All my life I have been locked up. I could never forgive what I done. I am sorry for all of you. I love you all. Thank you for supporting me. I thank you for being kind to me when I was small. Thank you, God. All right.”

— Joseph Cannon, convicted of murder, lethal injection, Texas.
Executed April 22, 1998

During his teenage years, Cannon faced burglary charges but found kindness in the legal system. Out of concern for his well being following the burglary conviction, Anne Walsh, sister of his court-appointed attorney, took him in.

During his stay, Cannon shot Walsh seven times with a .22-caliber pistol. He was convicted of capital murder at age nineteen and was executed nineteen years later.