This week in 1988

“I was not guilty for the charge for which I was arrested and this morning I tell you I am not guilty of the charge for which I am about to be executed. I go this morning with a clear conscience. I bear no guilt. I’m at peace with myself, with the world, with each of you. God bless you.”

— Willie Jasper Darden, convicted of murder, electric chair, Florida.
Executed March 15, 1988

Despite intervention from Amnesty International, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Superman actress Margot Kidder, Darden died for the shooting death of James Turman, a furniture store owner. Turman’s wife identified Darden as the man who robbed her of fifteen dollars and forced her to perform oral sex on him as her husband lay dying from a gunshot “between the eyes.” Darden maintained his innocence for fourteen years on death row and claimed to have an alibi to prove it.