This week in 1987
“I’d just like to tell the Richard family that I’m very, very sorry. I hope in their hearts they can forgive.”
— Willie Celestine, convicted of rape and murder, electric chair, Louisiana.
Executed July 20, 1987
Serial rapist Celestine faced the electric chair for the rape, beating, and strangulation of eighty-one-year-old Marceliane Richard. Witnesses to the execution included his attorney Millard Farmer and death-penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean, who served as his spiritual adviser.
This week in 1692
“I am no more a witch than you are a wizard, and if you take away my life, God will give you blood to drink.”
— Sarah Good, convicted of witchcraft, hanging, Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Executed July 19, 1692
After Good’s first marriage failed, she moved to Salem and remarried. Some townspeople disliked her and accused her of casting evil spells and attacking a woman at knifepoint. Good and fellow accused witches Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, and Sarah Wildes were executed together on Salem’s Gallows Hill. When urged by Rev. Nicholas Noyes to confess, Good called him a liar, then delivered her final, now famous last words.
This week in 1996
“Again, I am sorry for what I have done. I do not know if my death will change anything or if it will bring anyone peace. I want to ask the families . . . to forgive me.”
— John Joubert, convicted of murder, electric chair, Nebraska.
Exected July 17, 1996
Joubert was found guilty of murdering three boys. He was denied a last-minute request to have his brain scanned to search for abnormalities.
