“I was asked by somebody, I don’t remember who, if there was any way sex offenders could be stopped. I said no. I was wrong. I said there was no hope, no peace. There is peace. There is hope. I found both in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

— Westley Dodd, convicted of rape and murder, hanging, Washington.
Executed January 5, 1993

Shortly after Dodd was released from prison for having kidnapped a seven-year-old boy, he was arrested for raping and killing three other small boys. Dodd himself admitted guilt, and during his incarceration he claimed numerous times that child molesters could not be reformed. In court, Dodd was even quoted as saying: “I must be executed before I have an opportunity to escape or kill someone else. If I do escape, I promise you I will kill and rape again, and I will enjoy every minute of it.” Dodd was the last person to be hanged in the United States and the first in more than three decades.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported:
“[Dodd] chose hanging over lethal injection because, he said, he had hanged his youngest victim’s body in a closet after killing him.”

“I want to speak to reporters. Newspaper men have made a fine mess of things calling me “Tough Tony.” I have always been a good kid.”

After sitting down:
“I am innocent.”

— Joseph Bolognia, convicted of robbery and murder, electric chair, New York.
Executed January 7, 1937

Bolognia and accomplice Theodore Di Donne robbed and killed a transit authority worker, then escaped with $250 in change. Police and press alerted city residents to be aware of any men trying to pay with large numbers of coins. A bar waitress noticed this very thing, and the pair was soon arrested.

“This is where injustice triumphs.”

— Theodore Di Donne (also recorded as “Di Dionne”), electric chair, convicted of robbery and murder, New York.
Executed January 7, 1937

Di Donne, age thirty-one, faced execution along with his entire gang of six for slaying Brooklyn Transit Authority employee Edwin Esposito in a heist gone sour. At the eleventh hour, however, the governor of New York commuted the sentences of all save the two directly responsible for the killing, Di Donne and accomplice Joseph Bolognia. Di Donne denied firing the fatal shot and hoped his family would believe him.