“I owe no apologies for a crime I did not commit. Those who lied and fabricated evidence against me will have to answer for what they have done. I know in my heart what I did and I call upon the spirit of my ancestors and all of my people, the land and the sea and the skies and I swear to them and now I am coming home. Loch sloy.”

— Frank McFarland, convicted of sexual assault and murder, lethal injection, Texas.
Executed April 29, 1998

McFarland was executed for the stabbing death of Terri Lynn Hokanson in a suburb of Fort Worth. He was to meet the victim the night of the murder after she was done with work, but he said he got too drunk to keep the engagement. Fibers, hair, and a scarf of hers were found in his car, connecting him to the crime. McFarland ended his last statement by saying “Loch sloy,” the battle cry of the Scottish McFarland clan.

McFarland is named on the Center on Wrongful Conviction’s list of thirty-nine executions that took place “in face of compelling evidence of innocence or serious doubt about guilt.”

“O Heavenly Father, they have crucified an innocent girl and now they are going to crucify an innocent man.”

— Eli Shonbrun (alias Ted Leopold), convicted of robbery and murder, electric chair, New York.
Executed April 29, 1943

The “innocent girl” in Shonbrun’s last statement was Madeline Webb, his accomplice, who was convicted but not sentenced to death with him in the murder of Susan Flora Reich. Webb had asked permission from the state to marry Shonbrun while incarcerated but was denied.

“Goodbye. Please dig my grave very deep. Let her go!”

—Thomas E. “Black Jack” Ketchum, convicted of murder, hanging, New Mexico.
Executed April 26, 1901

Train robbery landed Ketchum in a stockade with a rope around his neck. He claimed that he wasn’t the real Black Jack. He did, however, boast that he had modeled his image on the real deal—who was still enjoying his freedom—and had committed crimes of his own. Ketchum claimed he’d hang for the crimes of both Black Jacks. He even wrote a letter to President McKinley, begging for mercy. Clemency did not come.