This week in 2005

“…I’ve been hanging around this Popsicle stand way too long. Before I leave, I want to tell you all. When I die, bury me deep, lay two speakers at my feet, put some headphones on my head and rock and roll me when I’m dead. I’ll see you in heaven someday. That’s all warden.”

— Douglas Roberts, convicted of kidnapping, robbery and murder, lethal injection, Texas.
Executed April 20, 2005

His first dose of cocaine had been at age ten, Roberts said. He was “stoned out of [his] mind” when he stole a car and robbed and killed a man. After the murder, Roberts called police from a pay phone and waited for them to pick him up. He refused all appeals after his first failed, as he saw his execution as a way out of the “23 hours a day in a cement box.” “So if you’ve got to spend the rest of your life like this, and if you’re like me and know the Lord, then today’s a good day to go,” Roberts said.