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Someone compiled all the last words of 583 executed death row inmates and it's chilling

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Published 16:31 24 Apr 2023 GMT+1

Someone compiled all the last words of 583 executed death row inmates and it's chilling

The final words of death row inmates have been compiled together

Ben Thompson

Ben Thompson

Have you ever been curious about the last words of the inmates who have been executed on Death Row in America?

Well, one website once compiled thousands of disturbing statements from prisoners over the decades who were about to be put to death in Texas.

Although the website - goodbyewarden.com - is no longer live, it lives on in internet infamy.

On the site was a list, made up of all the mostly commonly used words in final statements - often words like 'family' and 'love'.

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Elsewhere, the site states: "This page is not intended to glorify or denounce the accused [...] It is simply intended to explore the mindsets of 565 human beings who faced certain, unavoidable death."

Here's a sampling of some of the eerie final words...

John King

John King was executed for the murder of James Byrd.
Texas Department of Justice

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The final words of King, who was executed on 24 April 2019, went with: "Them without the capital get the punishment."

King was executed for his involvement in the murder of James Byrd Junior in 1999, who was dragged along the road by King's truck. King and his co-defendants, Lawrence Brewer and Shawn Allen Berry, had picked up Byrd whilst he was hitch-hiking.

Carroll Parr

Carroll Parr was executed in 2013.
Clark County Prosecutors

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Parr, who was executed on 7 May 2013, started off his final statement with a plea to the family of the man he was found guilty of killing.

Then things got strange, with him stating: "I am in the midst of truth. I am good, I am straight, don't trip. To all my partners, tell them I said like Arnold Schwarzenegger, 'I'll be back'.

"These eyes will close, but they will be opened again, my understanding of God is, Jesus has got me through. To my family, I love ya'll."

Parr had been imprisoned after shooting a man he was robbing outside a grocery store in Texas.

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Rosendo Rodriguez

Rosendo Rodriguez was executed for the murder of a woman found in a suitcase.
FBI

Rodriguez, executed on 27 March 2018, used his final words on Earth to issue a call for political change: "I want everyone to boycott every single business in the state of Texas until all the businesses are pressed to stop the death penalty."

Rodriguez was on Death Row for the murder of a woman who was found dead in suitcase after she had been sexually assaulted.

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Henry Earl Dunn, Jr.

Henry Earl Dunn Jr.
Clark County Prosecutor

In a similar vein, Dunn wrote: "Please continue to struggle and fight against the death penalty, as its only use has been for revenge, and it does not deter crime. It's time for a moratorium in the State of Texas."

Dunn was executed in 2003 for the abduction and murder of a 23-year-old man a decade earlier in 1993.

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Jeffrey Doughtie

Jeffrey Doughtie.
Texas Execution Information Centre

Doughtie, who was executed on 16 August 2001, said: "For almost nine years I have thought about the death penalty, whether it is right or wrong and I don't have any answers.

"But I don't think the world will be a better or safer place without me. If you had wanted to punish me you would have killed me the day after, instead of killing me now.

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"You are not hurting me now. I have had time to get ready, to tell my family goodbye, to get my life where it needed to be. It started with a needle and it is ending with a needle."

Delbert Teague Jr.

Delbert Teague Jr.
Texas Department of Justice

On 9 September 1998, Teague Jr kept it simple and to the point in the moments before his execution: "I have come here today to die, not make speeches. Today is a good day for dying."

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Billy Gardner

Billy Gardner.
Texas Department of Justice

For Gardner, his final words in 1995 weren't a plea for forgiveness, but an offering of it: "I forgive all of you – hope God forgives all of you too."

Gardner had been found guilty of the murder of a cafeteria supervisor twelve years earlier in 1983.

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G.W. Green

Green found a way to make his final words seem as nonchalant as possible: "Let’s do it, man. Lock and load. Ain’t life a b***h?"

Green, executed in 1991, was convicted for the shooting of a police officer in his home.

Ricky Lee Green

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Ricky Lee Green.
Texas Department of Justice

Green, who had converted to Christianity during his time behind bars, made mention of Jesus during his final statement.

He said: "I really do not believe that if Jesus were here tonight that he would execute me. Jesus is all about love."

Green had been sentenced to death for the 'sexual mutilation' and murder of a 28-year-old man in 1986.

James Clark

James Clark.
Texas Department of Justice

This inmate was lost for words and fumbled his way through his final statement ahead of his execution in 2007: "Uh, I don't know, Um, I don't know what to say. I don't know. I didn't know anybody was there. Howdy."

How Texan.

Although the 'Goodbye Warden' website is no longer online, the last words of the prisoners on death row in Texas have been documented by the Texas Department of Justice.

Featured Image Credit: Patti McConville / Alamy Stock Photo/Norma Jean Gargasz / Alamy Stock Photo

Topics: Crime, US News

Ben Thompson
Ben Thompson

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