“Man is what he chooses to be; he chooses that for himself. If this comes down, I hope that some good will come of it.”

— John Spenkelink, convicted of murder, Florida.
Executed May 25, 1979

Though prison officials reported that Spenkelink wished to leave no final statement, these quotations were passed on by an Episcopal priest, the last person to talk to the prisoner. After Spenkelink escaped from a California jail, he killed an ex-convict named Joseph Syzmankiewicz, whom Spenkelink claimed had robbed him, held him prisoner, and forced him into homosexual acts. Spenkelink’s last words have previously been reported as “Capital punishment: them without the capital get the punishment,” but newspaper accounts do not confirm this.

“Yes, boy, I could sure go for some beef stew and a chicken bone. That’s it.”

— Chris Newton, convicted of murder, lethal injection, Ohio.
Executed May 24, 2007

Newton murdered fellow prison inmate Jason Brewer over chess. “He kept giving up,” said Newton. “Every time I put him in check, he’d give up and want to start a new game . . . I just got tired of it.” At 265 pounds, Newton proved to be difficult to execute: it took two hours and ten needle sticks before the proper veins were found.

During the delay, Newton talked and laughed with the staff; he was even given a bathroom break.

“I am innocent.”

— W. C. Baird, convicted of murder, hanging,Tennessee.
Executed May 24, 1907

Even at the moment of his death, Baird proclaimed his innocence. He was labeled a wife killer but claimed that highwaymen had shot his wife after the couple was stopped on the road near Fayetteville, Tennessee.