This week in 1999
In English:
“I love you. I will be waiting for you on the other side. Son be strong no matter what happens, know that God is looking over you. Jesus mercy, Jesus mercy, Jesus mercy!”
In Spanish:
“Brother-in-law, take care of the family and let it be united. Yoli.”
In German:
“My beautiful princess. You are all my heart and soul and I love you so much.”
— Domingo Cantu JR., convicted of murder and sexual assault, lethal injection,Texas.
Executed October 28, 1999
In 1988, at the age of twenty, Cantu sexually assaulted his ninety four-year-old victim before beating her head on a concrete sidewalk, killing her. he fled the scene but later confessed to the crime. Cantu received the death penalty eleven years after committing the murder. The Texas native had previously served time for burglary.
This week in 1901
“I killed the president because he was an enemy of the good people—of the working people. I am not sorry for my crime. I’m awfully sorry I could not see my father.”
— Leon Frank Czolgosz (aka Leon Frans Czolgosz), convicted of murder, electric chair, New York.
Executed October 29, 1901
Czolgosz assassinated President William McKinley after waiting in line to shake his hand in Buffalo. Czolgosz’s reasons for doing so were not entirely clear, though he did express grievances against the United States and claim that the American dream was a lie. Eight weeks after the murder, he was electrocuted; his body was dissolved in acid as it was buried.
This week in 1997
“First and foremost I would like to tell the victims’ families that I am sorry because I don’t feel like I am guilty. I am sorry for the pain all of them have gone through during holidays and birthdays. They are without their loved ones. I have said from the beginning and I will say it again that I am innocent…”
— Kenneth Ransom, convicted of murder, lethal injection,Texas.
Executed October 28, 1997
Ransom was one of the three men who stabbed employees at a Houston amusement center, in what was considered one of the worst mass slayings in the city’s history. Ransom was the second of the group to receive the death penalty. Before him was Richard J. Wilkerson, a former pit attendant at the facility.
