“What I want people to know is that they call me a cold-blooded killer when I shot a man that shot me first. The only thing that convicted me was that I am a Mexican and that he was a police officer. People hollered for my life, and they are to have my life tonight. The people never hollered for the life of the policeman that killed a thirteen-year-old boy who was handcuffed in the back seat of a police car. The people never hollered for the life of a Houston police officer who beat up and drowned Jose Campo Torres and threw his body in the river. You call that equal justice…I don’t say this with any bitterness or anger. I just say this with truthfulness. I hope God forgives me for all my sins. I hope that God will be as merciful to society as he has been to me. I’m ready, Warden.”

— Henry M. Porter, convicted of murder, lethal injection, Texas.
Executed July 9, 1985

Porter, a former painter’s assistant, was convicted of shooting and killing Fort Worth police officer Henry P. Mailloux. The officer stopped Porter in the investigation of three armed robberies.

“I most solemnly declare with my dying breath . . . that I am innocent, and unknowing to the death of Thomas Read the Guinea, Negro [that I die for]. . . .And now having settled my worldly affairs I shall close and prepare to depart in peace. I’ve kissed this paper— and bid it convey the kiss to you my love: and now my dear Sally, I bid you—oh heavens! I bid you my dear wife! Not the Farewell of a day, month, nor year—but an eternal farewell—I earnestly beg your prayers for me and may God protect, preserve, prosper, and bless you, is the dying prayer of your dotingly fond husband . . .”

— Abraham Johnstone, convicted of murder, hanging, New Jersey.
Executed July 8, 1797

Johnstone was born a slave in Delaware but earned his freedom by throwing himself in between a knife and his master. Sometime later he was accused of killing a man named Tom in a brawl, for which he faced the gallows. The full forty-seven-page booklet of his lengthy speech and a final letter to his wife was printed the same year.

“Yes, to my family, I love you. Please do not mourn my death or my life. Continue to live as I want you to live. I hold no bitterness toward no one. Just remember the light. I’m gonna let this light shine. Let it shine. Let the light shine.”

— Tyrone Fuller, convicted of murder, lethal injection, Texas.
Executed July 7, 1999

Fuller was the first Texas death-row inmate to be convicted of capital murder based on DNA evidence. Fuller, who nicknamed himself “Evil,” was on parole when he attacked Andrea Duke during a burglary of her home. She was found on the lawn of her apartment complex, raped, tortured, and stabbed. Prosecutors originally thought Fuller might not be responsible for Duke’s murder, but bodily fluid and hairs found on her body helped convict him.