“The act I committed to put me here was not just heinous, it was senseless. But the person that committed that act is no longer here—I am. I’m not going to struggle physically against any restraints. I’m not going to shout, use profanity or make idle threats. Understand though that I’m not only upset, but I’m saddened by what is happening here tonight. I’m not only saddened, but disappointed that a system that is supposed to protect and uphold what is just and right can be so much like me when I made the same shameful mistake…No one wins tonight. No one gets closure. No one walks away victorious.”

— Napoleon Beazley, convicted of murder, lethal injection, Texas.
Executed May 28, 2002

Beazley, a teenager from an upper-middle-class African American family, was a star athlete and the president of his senior class. But he also dealt drugs and carried a gun. In 1995, he told a friend he wanted to experience what it was like to steal a car and murder someone. He and two accomplices (who received life sentences) followed John and Bobbie Luttig to their home and shot at them both, killing John.

“Mother, I am sorry for all the pain I’ve caused you. Please forgive me. Take good care of yourself. Ernest and Otis, watch out for the family. Thank all of you who have helped me.”

— Anthony Williams, convicted of murder, lethal injection, Texas.
Executed May 28, 1987

Williams had no prior arrest record when he abducted a thirteen-year-old girl from a bowling alley. The girl was sexually assaulted and then beaten to death with a board.

“The sands of a brief existence have nearly run; my eyes are closing forever upon the beauties of this lesser world, to open, I hope and trust and pray, upon the splendor of a better. I bid all a last farewell.”

— George Truman, convicted of murder, hanging, Maryland.
Executed May 28, 1869

In his confession, twenty-one-year-old Truman said an “unnamed accessory” advised him to rob a clothing peddler on Frederick Road. When the man resisted, Truman beat him with stones until he lay bleeding on the ground. Truman took the man’s boots, pants, hat, and carpetbag full of merchandise, and left him for dead. The next day, Truman found the man a short distance from where he had left him, conscious but unable to move. He returned to his uncle’s home, where he lived, and brought his uncle’s pistol back to shoot the peddler in the head. The above quotation is part of a longer confession prepared by Truman.