This week in 2005

“Yes sir. I would like to ask you to forgive me. I made a mistake and I am sorry for what I did. All I can do is ask you to forgive me. I love you and I will see all of you in Heaven. I love you very much. Praise Jesus. I love you.”

He then recited the Lord’s Prayer.

— Troy Kunkle, convicted of murder, robbery, and abduction, lethal injection, Texas.
Executed January 25, 2005

On their way from San Antonio to Corpus Christi in 1984, Kunkle and three companions offered Stephen Horton a ride. They robbed him of his wallet, which contained thirteen dollars, and Kunkle shot him in the head, after which he sang lines from “No Remorse,” a song by heavy metal band Metallica: “Another day, another death, another sorrow, another breath.” Kunkle, age thirty-eight at the time of execution, spent half his life on death row.