This Week in 2011

“You’re not about to witness an execution, you are about to witness a murder. I am strapped down for something Marcus Rhodes did. I never killed anybody, ever. I love you, Mom. I love you, Tali. This is wrong. This whole thing is wrong. I can’t believe you are going to let Marcus Rhodes walk around free. Justice has let me down. Somebody completely screwed this up. I love you too, Mom. Well Warden, if you are going to murder someone, go ahead and do it. Pull the trigger. It’s coming. I can feel it coming. Goodbye.”

– Steven Woods, convicted of murder, lethal injection, Texas. Executed September 13, 2011.

Woods and his friend, Marcus Rhodes, shot and killed Ronald Whitehead and Bethena Brosz. Woods maintained his innocence and claimed that Rhodes, who was also convicted of the murders but sentenced to life in prison, was the one responsible for the killings.