This week in 1997

“A lot of people view what is happening here as evil, but I want you to know that I found love and compassion here. The people who work here, I thank them for the kindness they have shown me and I deeply appreciate all that has been done for me by the people who work here. That’s all, warden, I’m ready.”

— Michael Lockhart, convicted of murder, lethal injenction, Texas.
Executed December 9, 1997

Ohio native Michael Lockhart had ties to robberies and thefts nationwide but faced capital murder charges in Florida and Indiana. He had served one year of a robbery sentence in a Wyoming state prison before the governor commuted it. Three years later, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to death for the fatal shooting of Paul Douglas Hulsey Jr., a Texas police officer who had attempted to arrest him for driving a stolen vehicle.