“That I feel the death penalty is not an answer to the problems at hand. That I feel it sends the wrong message to the youth of the country. Young people act as they see other people acting instead of as people tell them to act. And I would suggest that when a person has thought of doing anything against the law, that before they did, they should go to a quiet place and think about it seriously.”

— William George Bonin, convicted of murder, lethal injection, California.
Executed February 23, 1996

Bonin, dubbed “the Freeway Killer,” received California’s first lethal injection. He was convicted of killing fourteen young boys and men—ranging in age from twelve to nineteen—from 1979 to 1980. Bonin and his accomplice may have claimed as many as thirty-six victims. Their tortured and sexually abused bodies were found along southern California highways, and the wave of killings created a panic in the region. Earle Robitaille, a police chief in the area during the string of murders, later told the New York Times: “It was no longer ‘Is it going to happen again?’ but ‘Who’s going to be the next victim, and where will he be abducted and where will he be picked up?’ ”

“The world loves a good sport and hates a bad loser.”

— Eva Dugan, convicted of murder, hanging, Arizona.
Executed February 21, 1930

Convicted of murdering A. J. Mathis, Dugan first tried to tie the crime to a mysterious figure named Jack. She then later claimed insanity, saying, “Anybody can look at me and see I’m bughouse.” Rejecting last-minute religious consolation, she said, “I’m going to die as I lived.” The quote above comes from an interview, when she responded to a question about her “iron will.”

What made her death most notable was its botched outcome: her head severed from her body as she plunged through the trapdoor.

“…My last wish and desire on this earth will be realized when I am able to have published my closing words in the form of advice to the youth of the nation. To you I say obey your parents, seek the advice of your elders, and live an honest and clean life with thoughts of brighter and cleaner things, at all times seek the finer things in life, and by all means obey the teachings of God and be able through these teachings to receive ultimate celestial glory.”

— Edward McGowan, convicted of murder and rape, firing squad, Utah.
Executed February 5, 1926

The first black man to be executed in Utah, McGowan was convicted of raping a mother and her daughters, and killing the woman’s husband at their home, where he had been a guest. McGowan’s last request was to die wearing an old pair of rubber shoes and not his boots on. Inmates raised money so that McGowan could receive a proper burial.