This week in 1998
“I am sorry for what I did to your mom. It isn’t because I’m going to die. All my life I have been locked up. I could never forgive what I done. I am sorry for all of you. I love you all. Thank you for supporting me. I thank you for being kind to me when I was small. Thank you, God. All right.”
— Joseph Cannon, convicted of murder, lethal injection, Texas.
Executed April 22, 1998
During his teenage years, Cannon faced burglary charges but found kindness in the legal system. Out of concern for his well being following the burglary conviction, Anne Walsh, sister of his court-appointed attorney, took him in.
During his stay, Cannon shot Walsh seven times with a .22-caliber pistol. He was convicted of capital murder at age nineteen and was executed nineteen years later.
This week in 1904
“So long, fellows.”
— Frank Rose, convicted of murder, firing squad, Utah.
Executed April 22, 1904
The bravado of Frank Rose was well documented in Utah publications during his trial. On the day of his execution Rose walked with“almost a swagger to the death chair.” Rose had shot his wife on Christmas Day and left his two-year-old son in the room with the dead mother for two days without food or water. Rose refused to enter a plea to the court, and when a not-guilty plea was entered for him, he refused to offer any evidence on his behalf.
In a statement released the day before his death, Rose confessed to many murders and burglaries throughout the West. Officials doubted whether he was speaking truthfully.
This week in 1992
“You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everyone
dances with the Grim Reaper.”
— Robert Alton Harris, convicted of murder, gas chamber, California.
Executed April 21, 1992
Harris was the first person to receive the death penalty after the state of California reinstated it in 1976. He went to the gas chamber for two 1978 murders: he and his brother abducted two sixteen-year old boys from a fast food establishment, drove them to a remote location, and shot and killed them. Harris’s brother testified against him, received a six- year sentence, and was discharged in 1983.
Harris’s last words are paraphrased from the comedic portrayal of the character Death in the 1991 film Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey.
