The following are the famous last words of prisoners before the execution

Well, gentlemen, you are about to see a baked Appel.
Executed in electric chair in New York.
~~ George Appel, d. 1928
You are going to hurt me, please don’t hurt me, just one more moment, I beg you!
Guillotined.
~~ Madame du Barry, mistress of Louis XV, d. 1793
I am going to be face to face with Jesus now. . . . I love you all very much. I will see you all when you get there. . . . I will wait for you.
Executed by injection, Texas.
~~ Karla Faye Tucker Brown, d. February 3, 1998
Take a step forward, lads. It will be easier that way.
Executed by firing squad.
~~ Erskine Childers, Irish patriot, d. November 24, 1922
Thank you for the change in my life you have given me, the love and closeness of my family and my beautiful daughter. Thank you for using me…
Executed by injection, Texas.
~~ John Cockrum, d. September 30, 1997
You sons of bitches. Give my love to Mother.
Executed in electric chair.
~~ Francis “Two Gun” Crowley, d. 1931
They butchered me back there, I was in a lot of pain. They cut me in the groin; they cut me in the leg. I was bleeding profusely. This is not an execution, it is murder.
Executed by injection, Florida
~~ Bennie Demps, d. June 8, 2000
( It took execution technicians 33 minutes to find suitable veins for the execution. The executioners had no unusual problems finding one vein, but because Florida protocol requires a second alternate intravenous drip, they continued to work to insert another needle, finally abandoning the effort after their prolonged failures.)
I’m going home, babe.
Executed by injection, Delaware.
~~ James Allen Red Dog, d. March 3, 1993
Remember, the death penalty is murder.
Executed by injection, Texas.
~~ Robert Drew, d. August 2, 1994
Hurrah for anarchy! This is the happiest moment of my life.
Last words on the gallows.
~~ George Engel
(He was one of four executed after the 1886 Haymarket bombing in Chicago)
I love you.
Spoken to the executioner.
Executed by injection, New York.
~~ Sean Flannagan, d. June 23, 1989
How about this for a headline for tomorrow’s paper? French fries.
Executed in electric chair in Oklahoma.
~~ James French, d. 1966
I’d like to thank my family for loving me and taking care of me. And the rest of the world can kiss my ass.
Executed by injection, Texas.
~~ Johnny Frank Garrett, Sr., d. February 11, 1992
Let’s do it!
Executed by firing squad, Utah.
~~ Gary Gilmore, d. January 17, 1977
I’d rather be fishing.
Executed in electric chair, Louisiana.
~~ Jimmy Glass, d. June 12, 1987
Good people are always so sure they’re right.
Executed at San Quentin.
~~ Barbara Graham, d. June 3, 1955
I did not get my Spaghetti-O’s, I got spaghetti. I want the press to know this.
Executed by injection, Oklahoma.
~~ Thomas J. Grasso, d. March 20, 1995
Lock and load. Let’s do it.
Executed by injection, Texas.
~~ G. W. Green, d. November 12, 1991
You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everyone dances with the Grim Reaper.
Executed in California’s gas chamber.
~~ Robert Alton Harris, d. April 21, 1992
It is the duty of every good officer to obey any orders given him by his commander-in-chief.
(Actual)
Shot by British as a spy.
~~ Nathan Hale, American hero, d. 1776
I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.
(Attributed)
~~ Nathan Hale
I am innocent, innocent, innocent. Make no mistake about this. I owe society nothing. I am an innocent man and something very wrong is taking place tonight.
Executed by injection, Texas.
~~ Lionel Herrera d. May 12, 1993
There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is God’s messenger.
Executed by hanging, at Camp Justice in the Baghdad suburb of Khadimiya
~~ Saddam Hussein d. December 30, 2006

I don’t hold any grudges. This is my doing. Sorry it happened.
Executed in electric chair, Indiana.
~~ Steven Judy, d. March 9, 1981
Such is Life
Executed by hanging.
~~ Ned Kelly, Australian bushranger, d. 1880
I love you, mom.
Executed by injection, Texas.
~~ Clarence Lackey, d. May 20, 1997
I die innocent of all the crimes laid to my charge; I Pardon those who have occasioned my death; and I pray to God that the blood you are going to shed may never be visited on France.
Executed by guillotine
~~ Louis XVI of France, d. January 21, 1793
My dear Melinée, my beloved little orphan,
In a few hours I will no longer be of this world. We are going to be executed today at 3:00. This is happening to me like an accident in my life; I don’t believe it, but I nevertheless know that I will never see you again.
Executed by firing squad
~~ Missak Manouchian, d. February 21, 1944
(Leader of the Parisian section of a Communist Resistance movement, the Francs Tireurs et Partisans - Main - d’oeuvre immigrée (FTP-MOI). See his entire letter & those of others of this group also executed, at: The Last Letters.
Farewell, my children, forever. I go to your Father.
Executed by guillotine.
Monsieur, I beg your pardon.
Spoken to the executioner, after she stepped on his foot.
~~ Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, d. October 16, 1793
Today is a good day to die. I forgive all of you. I hope God does too.
Executed by injection, Virginia.
~~ Mario Benjamin Murphy, d. September 17, 1997
Shoot me in the chest!
To his executioners.
~~Benito Mussolini, Italian dictator, d.1945
Shoot straight you bastards and don’t make a mess of it!
Executed by firing squad.
~~ Harry Harbord “Breaker” Morant, Australian poet & national hero, d. 1902
Hurry it up you Hoosier bastard! I could hang a dozen men while you’re screwing around.
Executed by hanging Leavenworth, Kansas.
~~ Carl Panzram, d. September 5, 1930
So the heart be right, it is no matter which way the head lieth.
Executed by beheading.
~~ Sir Walter Raleigh, d. October 29, 1618
Well, the Lord is going to get another one.
Executed in electric chair, Georgia.
~~ John Eldon Smith, d. December 15, 1983
Capital punishment: them without the capital get the punishment.
Executed in electric chair, Florida.
~~ John Spenkelink, d. May 25, 1979
Adios.
Executed by injection in Maryland.
~~ John Thanos, d. May 16, 1994

So what was this ladies crime? did she kill someone? kidnap? stab her mother? rob the minimart (I hear you get shot for that one)? show her face… or god forbid her leg in public?  nope… she did the what comes naturally to most humans… sexuality… in her case… she was married, so they say.

The woman who got the execution of being hung from the crane in public… well she cheated on the hubby.Maybe he was abusive, maybe he just plain sucked in bed, or maybe he was just not the person she ever, ever wanted to be with in her life… but none of that matters now does it?

I still do wonder what happens to a man for the same thing? do they chop off his nuts or what?

I know that many countries are a bit behind the times and have not yet come to realize that people do not always get along… nor do they “stay in love”.. we all wish that we would… but as always shit happens!

but now read the part below..

“Many brain washed Pasdar and Basij raped female prisoners. By law of Islamic Regime of Ayatollahs virgin girls if executed will be blessed into the heaven. They are raped, before execution.”

hmm, let me get this straight now… rape a virgin… and said virgin goes to heaven… or does the rapist? hell, not really sure on that one..

But one thing I do remember is the story a bit back about a lady stoned to death for the same thing and the global opposition to it… not that it helped her in the end… I think.  Now come on people… move into the modern ages!

and… some sick shit galleries of the cheating ladies hung by the neck… in public till death!

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As far as sick shit and Executions go… Middle East may take the cake. Regimes may change, but the terror seems to remain within the population… these images are not that old, they are from 2002.

Execution by hanging from crane? guess they never heard of the English Gallows!

As always, its just so hard to imagine so many people standing by, but then terror has been instilled in them for centuries and many of us can not even imagine anything like that… nor can I imagine the inhumanity involved.

This kind of TRIAL became routine practice in Islamic Regime of Ayatollahs. Two minutes talk to the accused, then hang… people stood by to watch… no one said a word.
Six people were executed this day [End of September 2002] and two other women were slashed

The folowing is a very bad resolution image dated 1979. I mean how high up in the sky do you need to hang a person to make a public statement? I guess in thier minds, 100’s of feet using the giant crane… pretty sick shit! Public executions are effective I suppose in the eyes of the governments doing them… how better to instill fear into an entire country than to hang some poor soul 100 feet into the air off a crane… in public… public executions and at times public mass hangings? hell, I sure can not think of a better idea

here are some more pictures of Executions by hanging in Iran

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There are many articles written about gallows, hangings, executions by hanging in England and Europe as well as modern… or more modern techniques.

Mostof the below ifo pertains to methods for hanging and gallows made in 1400’s to the 1800’s, however, there are still countries that employ hanging as a method of execution, many of which are still public. Hanging is one of the oldest methods of execution, and it replaced the guillitine(hope I spelled that right!) in many European countries

So what I gather is you need rope with enough tensile strength to withstand a force of about 570kg, which is sufficient to snap the neck of a condemned prisoner, putting them in a coma for the six minutes or so it takes the brain to shut down.

If the pressure on the side of the neck from the noose is less than 570kg when the body’s fall is arrested, the prisoner will probably suffer prolonged death by strangulation.

Should the hangman miscalculate the length of the rope, allowing the body to fall too far, the force will be too great and, unless the rope snaps, death will be by decapitation.

Many devices have been created through the centuries to allow for “better” hangings… or so that the prisoner dies due to the hangingand the head does not go rolling into the crowd of spectators.

So Check out this gallery of both modern gallows and gallows from the 1400 - 1800’s. Some are artwork because back in those days… well cameras were not yet invented.

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Hanging grew in popularity from the 5th century onwards in Europe as a means of execution, partly because it provided a spectacle. The body of a murderer, witch or thief was strung high above the crowd, giving everyone a perfect view. Below are some of the various methods and devices used for said hanging.

The gallows.
A tree was the earliest form of gallows with prisoners being either hauled up manually by the hangman or turned off from a ladder or the tail of a cart. Two trees with a beam between them formed the gallows.
In other places more conventional gallows were built, having either a single upright with a projecting beam cross braced to it or two uprights and a cross beam where more than one person could be hanged at a time. Both types still required the use of a ladder or a cart to get the criminal suspended. Many of these gallows were not permanent and were dismantled after each execution. In some cases, the gallows was erected near to the scene of the crime so that the local inhabitants could see justice done.
In 1571, the famous “Triple Tree” was set up at Tyburn to replace previous smaller structures and was, at least once, used for the hanging of 24 prisoners simultaneously. This was on the 23rd of June 1649 when 23 men and one woman were executed for burglary and robbery, having been conveyed there in 8 carts.

In1760 a new design gallows was used to execute the Earl of Ferrers at Tyburn. It comprised a scaffold covered in black baize reached by a short flight of stairs. Two uprights rose from the scaffold, topped with a cross beam. Directly under the beam there was a small box like structure, some 3 feet square and 18 inches high, which was designed to sink down into the scaffold and thus leave the criminal suspended. This was the forerunner of the “New Drop” gallows.

The “New Drop” gallows.
The 9th of December 1783 saw the first executions on Newgate’s “New Drop” gallows, when nine men and one woman were hanged simultaneously .The gallows was on wheels and was brought out specially for each hanging by a team of horses. It was a large box like structure with two uprights supporting two parallel beams from which a maximum of a dozen criminals could be hanged at once. The prisoners stood on a platform, 10 feet long by 8 feet wide, released by moving a lever , as hangings became less frequent, the double beam gallows was replaced with a single beam pattern which could still accommodate six prisoners at a time.

The “New Drop” pattern. Lancaster from 1800 to 1868 where the prisoner was brought directly onto the platform through first floor French windows of the “Drop Room”.

Britain’s last working gallows, at Wandsworth prison, was dismantled in 1994 and was sent to the Prison Service Museum in Rugby, being now stored in the Galleries of Justice in Nottingham but not on display. It was last used on the 8th of September 1961 and was kept in full working order up to 1992, being tested every six months.

The Noose.
Consisting of a loop worked into one end of a piece of hemp rope, with the other end passed through it.
In 1955 the noose end was replaced with vulcanised rubber. The rope was stretched before use, by dropping a sandbag of approximately the same weight as the prisoner through the trap and leaving it suspended overnight.

The hood.
Over the last 250 years or so it has been customary to cover the prisoner’s face so that their final agonies would not be seen. IIn some places the “hood” was actually a nightcap supplied by the prisoner. When they had finished their prayers, the hangman simply pulled it down over their face. In some cases, women might choose a bonnet with a veil instead

Pinioning.
In England, the prisoner’s hands were typically pinioned in front of them until 1892. In the days of public hangings, the prisoner’s wrists were tied with a cord and often a second cord passed round the body and arms at the elbows. This was done to allow them to pray on the gallows, however, this made it easier for them to resist and fight at the end so pinioning the wrists at the sides to a leather body belt became normal by the 1850’s - an idea invented by William Calcraft. James Billington introduced the idea of pinioning the prisoner’s wrists behind their back using a double buckle leather strap, and this became the standard method until abolition. It also significantly reduced the time taken in the pinioning operation.
With the advent of the long drop, the prisoner’s legs were normally pinioned with a leather strap around the ankles to prevent them getting their feet onto the sides of the trap when the doors fell. Previously, the legs had been left free in short drop hangings, although it had been normal to tie the legs of female prisoners to prevent their skirts billowing up and exposing their underwear!

The “Short Drop”
Hanging using little or no drop was effectively universal up to the end of 1874. The prisoner could be suspended by a variety of means, from the back of a cart or a ladder or later by some form of trap door mechanism. Where a person was dragged off the tail of the cart they usually got only a few inches of actual drop. It was not unusual for the relatives and friends of prisoners to hang on their legs to shorten their suffering.

People surviving the gallows and the hanging… Unlike modern Electric chairs where they zap you again till you do die, they had a bit of sympathy and compassion for the prisoner sentenced to “hang by the neck… ’till death”.
There are several recorded instances of revival in this country during the 17th and 18th centuries. One of the most famous is that of John Smith, hanged at Tyburn on Christmas Eve 1705. Having been turned off the back of the cart, he dangled for 15 minutes until the crowd began to shout “reprieve,” whereupon he was cut down and taken to a nearby house where he soon recovered.

He was asked what it had felt like to be hanged and this is what he told his rescuers:
“When I was turned off I was, for some time, sensible of very great pain occasioned by the weight of my body and felt my spirits in strange commotion, violently pressing upwards. Having forced their way to my head I saw a great blaze or glaring light that seemed to go out of my eyes in a flash and then I lost all sense of pain. After I was cut down, I began to come to myself and the blood and spirits forcing themselves into their former channels put me by a prickling or shooting into such intolerable pain that I could have wished those hanged who had cut me down.”
Sixteen year old William Duell was hanged, along with 4 others, at Tyburn on the 24th of November 1740. He had been convicted of raping and murdering Sarah Griffin and was therefore to be anatomised after execution. He was taken to Surgeon’s Hall, where it was noticed that he was showing signs of life. He was revived and returned to Newgate later that day. The authorities decided to reprieve him and his sentence was commuted to transportation. There are several other instances where people, including at least two women, survived their hanging.

The “Long drop” In 1872, William Marwood introduced the “long drop” to Britain for the execution of Frederick Horry at Lincoln prison on the 1st of April of that year, as a scientifically worked out way of giving the prisoner a more humane death. The first woman to be executed by the new method was Frances Stewart who was hanged for the murder of her grandson by Marwood on Monday the 29th of June 1874. The concept was invented by doctors in Ireland and Marwood had read about their theory. Longer drops were in use in other countries by the 1850’s, but the short drop was universal in Britain at this time. During the five years from 1872 to 1877 both the short and long drop methods were in use with only Marwood using the latter.
The long drop method was designed to break the prisoner’s neck by allowing them to fall a pre-determined distance and then be brought up with a sharp jerk by the rope. At the end of the drop, the body is still accelerating under the force of gravity but the head is constrained by the noose which delivers a massive blow to the back and one side of the neck, which combined with the downward momentum of the body, breaks the neck and ruptures the spinal cord causing instant deep unconsciousness and rapid death. The later use of the brass eyelet in the noose tended to break the neck with more certainty. Due to its position under the angle of the left jaw, the head is snapped backward with such force that the upper cervical vertebrae cuts the spinal cord a little below the brain stem.
The accurately measured and worked out drop removed most of the prisoner’s physical suffering and made the whole process far less traumatic for the officials who now had to witness it in the confines of the execution cell instead of in the open air.
The drop given from 1875 to 1892 was usually between 4 and 10 feet, depending on the weight and strength of the prisoner, the length of drop being calculated to provide a final “striking” force of approximately 1,260 lbs. force which combined with the positioning of the noose caused fracture and dislocation of the neck, usually at the 2nd and 3rd or 4th and 5th cervical vertebrae. This is the classic “hangman’s fracture”. The length of the drop was worked out by the formula 1,260 foot pounds divided by the body weight of the prisoner in pounds = drop in feet.
The 1892 Home Office table of drops, and the revised in 1913 table are shown below.

Drop tables.
The weight is that of the clothed prisoner in pounds, the day before execution.
Note 1 pound is 0.454 Kg, 1 foot is 30.5 cm and an inch is 2.5 cm.

Thanks to this British hanging site for many parts of the above info

The names of Modern… almost modern day British Hangmen

Robert Anderson (Evans) - of Carmarthen, Wales.
1873-1875.

William Calcraft - Little Baddow Essex

Executioner between 1829-1874.
Longest serving executioner of all time and was known for “short drops” causing most of his victims to strangle to death. not a nice death, but this was the 1800’s

Thomas Askern - York
Executioner between 1853-1876.

Thomas Askern - Hangman for Yorkshire. Askern, like all of York’s hangmen, was taken from the prison systemand the inmate population - he was a debtor.

William Marwood - Horncastle Lincolnshire

Executioner between1874-1883.
Marwood was a cobbler took great interest in hanging and executions, thereby becoming a hangman

George Meker or Incher - Dudley.

Executioner between1875-1881.

Bartholomew Binns.

Executioner between1883-1884.
His first execution was that of Henry Powell, Wandsworth Prison.

James Berry - Heckmondwike Yorkshire

Executioner between 1884-1891.
Berry carried out 131 hangings in 8 years - 5 women included. This Hangman even wrote his memoirs, “My Experiences as an Executioner”.. So the hangman published a book… gotta love it, I believe it is still available in libraries and I need to read it.

Thomas Henry Scott - Huddersfield.

Executioner between 1892-1895.

James Billington - Lancashire

Executioner between 1884-1901.
James Billington had huge fascination of executions, hanging and death… so his decision to be an executioner probably came naturally.

Thomas Billington

Executioner between1897-1901.
The eldest son of James Billington’s eldest and assisted his father and brother William at six hangings in the 20th century, before dying of pneumonia aged 29, in 1902. guess it was a family business

William Billington

Executioner between1902-1905.
The second of James Billington’s William, took over from his father and was assisted by his younger brother John. He assisted at 14 executions and went on to carry out 58 more alone.
He Hung Emily Swan and boyfriend, John Gallagher, they died together. Hooded and noosed on the gallows Emily said, “Good morning John” John replied, “Good morning love“. Emily said, “Goodbye, God bless you” before the drop fell ending that lovely conversation.

John Billington

Executioner between1902-1905.
John was on the approved list of executioners and assisted at 24 executions. He then carried out 15 hangings as the executioner

Henry Pierrepoint - BradfordYorkshire.

Executioner between1901-1910.
Henry Pierrepoint assisted at 30 hangings and carried out 68 executions himself in 9 years He is said to have taken great pride in his work and calculated the drops completely…. probably to prevent the heads from rolling on a botched execution

John Ellis - Lancashire

Executioner between1901-1923.
Committed suicide… may have been stress on the job

William Willis - Manchester

Executioner between1906-1926.
Assisted at 77 executions in England and Wales,Executed 12 as primary executioner including a series of 6 at Manchester’s Strangeways prison. Fired in 1926 for being drunk and aggressive at an execution. Not the only executioner to be accused of that one.

Thomas Pierrepoint

Executioner between1906-1946.
Tom worked as a hangman for 37 years before retiring in 1946. He was an old man in his 70’s when he retired from his position as hangman and executioner.

Robert Wilson - Manchester

Executioner between1920-1936.
Robert Wilson assisted at 39 executions.

Robert Baxter of Hertford.

Executioner between 1915-1935.
Robert Baxter had 41 executions under his belt as the chief hangman and also assisted 39 other executions by hanging

Alfred Allen - Wolverhampton.

Executioner between1928-1937.
Assisted 11 Executions and had 3 more executions by hanging as the primary

Thomas Mather Phillips - Farnworth

Executioner between 1918-1941.
Primary hangman / executioner for two executions after having assisted at 40 other hangings.

Stanley William Cross.

Executioner between1932-1941.
Assisted at 12 executions and chief on 3 hangings

Albert Pierrepoint -Yorkshire

Executioner between1932-1956.
Most prolific hangman/executioner of the 20th century. Executed approx 433 men and 17 women in 24 years as hangman and executioner.

Harry Kirk - Huntingdon

Executioner between 1941-1950.
Harry Kirk,assistant to 35 hangings. He had a very short career as a hangman. When he executed Norman Goldenthorpe at Norwich. Snorting and odd gasping sounds were heard. The hood became stuck in the eyelet of the noose. This was thus Kirk’s first and last hanging as primary hangman because of his screw up

Stephen Wade - Doncaster.

Executioner between1941-1955.

Harry Bertrum Allen - Manchester

Executioner between1941-1964.
Just died recently in 1992

Robert Leslie Stewart - Chadderton Lancashire

Executioner between1950-1964.

he died in 1988

These 2 hangings show that there are far worse places to get caught doing something wrong than the US.  Crime and punishment in the Middle East

January 2, 2004

2 men attempted a robbery of some sort, the details of I do not have, however they ended up caught by the military.

The 2 robbers were killed, one wounded and 2 others were arrested.

The following day on January 3, 2004, the government decided to hang the dead bodies in two different locations in the city of Farah. The dead bodies were hanged in a crowded square of city for over 8 hours and thousands of people including children watched the horrible scenes which reminded the era of terror under Taliban.

The officials of Farah, said to be mainly warlords belonging to fundamentalist groups of the Northern Alliance, demonstrated their real nature that there is not much difference between them and the  Taliban who were largely criticized for this kind of brutal punishments under their rule. photos courtesy of Rawa

One of the grizliest(hope I spelled that correctly… may be grisley… ehh, ya know what I mean) recent time Executions that may have also been a wrongfull conviction? Poor dude had no uck in life nor in death it seems!

May 4, 1990. Jesse Joseph Tafero. Electrocution.

During the execution it is said that six-inch flames erupted from Jesse Joseph Tafero’s head.

3 jolts of power were required to stop his breathing.

So what went wrong you may ask? well now…State officials claimed that the botched execution was caused by what other than… “inadvertent human error”

Someone used a synthetic sponge instead of the recommended natural one needed. They attempted to support this theory by sticking a part of a synthetic sponge into a “common household toaster” and observing that it smoldered and caught fire.

So Jesse Jo Tolfero basically smoldered to death?

The story of Mr. Jesse Joseph Tolfero (parts taken from http://www.law.northwestern.edu)

Sonia “Sunny” Jacobs and Jesse Joseph Tafero were tried and convicted then later sentenced to death by the same judge for the 1976 murders of two law enforcement officers in Broward County, Florida.

Jacobs, Tafero, their 10-month-old daughter, Jacobs’ 6-year-old son, and Walter Norman Rhodes, a friend of Tafero’s, were sleeping in a car that was approached by Highway patrolman Phillip Black, along for the ride with Black was a friend, Donald Irwin, a vacationing Canadian constable.

The murder and kidnaping

After Black learned via radio that Rhodes had a criminal record, gunfire broke out. Black and Irwin, the patrolman and his friend, laid dead and the 2 men, woman and 2 childeren sped off in the patrol car, driven by Rhodes.

At a nearby apartment complex, Rhodes stole a car and kidnapped the man in the car. Rhodes later lost control of the car and the wrecked it.

Jacobs and Tafero maintained from the beginning that Rhodes had shot the officers, and that they had no choice but to go along with him after the shooting.

There were two eyewitnesses to events surrounding the murders, neither contradicted Jacobs’ and Tafero’s version of what happened. Nor was their version contradicted by physical evidence. Both Tafero and Rhodes had gunpowder residue on their hands, a fact that was consistent with Tafero’s claim that Rhodes handed him the gun after shooting the officers. There was no gunpowder residue on Jacobs’ hands.

The convictions and sentencing

The convictions of Jacobs and Tafero rested primarily on the testimony of Rhodes, who was allowed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, rat on your buddies to save your own ass… done all the time I’m assuming.

In Jacobs’ case, the prosecution also presented the testimony of a jailhouse informant, Brenda Isham, who claimed Jacobs had confessed.

The trials were surrounded by massive publicity, which was overwhelmingly prejudicial. All prospective jurors acknowledged knowing about the case, and neither jury was sequestered. The jury in the Jacobs case recommended a life sentence, but Judge M. Daniel Futch, Jr. imposed death, as he had done earlier in the Tafero case.

Futch, known as “Maximum Dan,” was a former Florida Highway Patrol trooper who kept a miniature replica of an electric chair on his desk. That is one sick ass bastard!

The appeals

In 1978, the Florida Supreme Court temporarily relinquished jurisdiction of Jacobs’ case, directing Futch to hold a hearing on whether the Broward County State Attorney had improperly withheld exculpatory evidence during pretrial discovery, including reports stating that Rhodes had told a prison guard that he alone shot the officers and that he had given answers during a polygraph test that were inconsistent with his trial testimony (1978).

“Maximum Dan” found no merit in Jacobs’ claims, saying that Rhodes’ purported statement to the prison guard had been equivocal and that it was impossible to establish precisely what Rhodes had said during the polygraph examination because there was no verbatim transcript of the questions and answers. The results of the polygraph itself, were not discoverable. As a matter of law, polygraph results.

Jacobs’ death sentence vacated

In 1981, the Florida Supreme Court agreed that the discovery issues did not warrant a new trial, affirming Jacobs’ conviction. However, the court commuted her sentence to life in prison, holding that Judge Futch or “Mr. Maximum Dan… with the replica Electric chair” had lacked sufficient basis to override the jury’s recommendation of a life sentence.
Tafero, well he was the unlucky bastard here really. He remained on death row, despite growing doubts about the credibility of prosecution’s star witness (thse be the jailhouse informants trying to save thier own asses).

Both Tafero and Jacobs then sought federal writs of habeas corpus. His was denied, but hers won a hearing before a federal magistrate. During that proceeding, Brenda Isham, the jailhouse informant who had helped send Jacobs to death row a decade earlier, admitted that she had committed perjury at the trial and that Jacobs, in fact, had not confessed.

Isham said that, before she agreed to testify because detectives had warned her that she might “make an enemy” of the Broward County State Attorney if she refused to testify against Jacobs…. may be a hint of police corruption in Broward county… but I can’t really be sure.
Jesse Joseph Tafero’s macabre execution… the head on fire one

Jacobs’ petition for a writ of habeas corpus was still pending when, on May 4, 1990, Tafero was put to death in the Florida electric chair. Officials interrupted the execution three times because flames and smoke shot out of his head. During the first interruption, he continued to move and breathe.

Before the execution, filmmaker Micki Dickoff had initiated correspondence with Jacobs. The two had been childhood friends, growing up in Indiana. Dickoff soon became persuaded of Jacobs innocence and obtained affidavits used to supplement the pending habeas corpus petition, which the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit granted in February 1992. A bit to late for poor Jo… however…

The following October, the Broward County State Attorney offered to release Jacobs if she would enter a plea in which she did not admit guilt, (isn’t that what they had been saying for a decade now?) Otherwise she faced a re-trial and possibly another death sentence. She took the plea deal and was released, no-brainer there, I guess. Unlike her boyfriend Jo, hers was still intact.

Dickoff made a documentary on the case entitled “ In the Blink of an Eye,” which aired as an ABC movie of the week in 1996.

Tafero’s botched execution, and several similarly macabre ones, prompted Florida finally to abandon its electric chair in favor of death by lethal injection in 2000. ( and some of those are really worth reading, like the one where the chemicals sprayed onto the witnesses)

Although the prosecution continued to maintain that Tafero was guilty, the evidence strongly suggested otherwise.

So Sunny or Sonia was:
Sentence: Death for the murders, life for the kidnaping
Release date: October 9, 1992
Months wrongfully incarcerated: 200
Date of birth: 1947
Age at time of arrest: 28
Defendant race: Caucasian
Race of victim(s): Caucasian
Defendant prior felony record: None
Known factors leading to wrongful conviction: Testimony of man who ultimately confessed to the murder
Did an appellate court ever affirm conviction? Yes
Exonerated by: Confession of actual killer, recantation of jailhouse snitch, intervention of filmmaker
Compensation for wrongful imprisonment: None

and poor Jesse Jo Tolfero… well he fried in the electric chair and they may have been a bit too late on that one

Much of the foregoing summary was prepared by Rob Warden, executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions. Thank you Mr. Warden

The following is a list of other people which may have been executed wrongfully:

James Adams (Florida)
Odell Barnes, Jr. (Texas)
James Beathard (Texas)
Brian K. Baldwin (Alabama)
Charles Anthony Boyd (Texas)
David Castillo (Texas)
Clyde Coleman (Texas)
Roger Keith Coleman (Virginia)
Willie Jasper Darden, Jr. (Florida)
Girvies Davis (Illinois)
Robert Nelson Drew (Texas)
James Otto Earhart (Texas)
Tony Farris (Texas)
Gary Graham (aka Shaka Sankofa) (Texas)
Lionel Torres Herrera (Texas)
Jerry Lee Hogue (Texas)
Jesse Jacobs (Texas)
Carl Johnson (Texas)
Malcolm Rent Johnson (Oklahoma)
Leo Jones (Florida)
Richard Wayne Jones (Texas)
Amos King (Florida)
Davis Losada (Texas)
Robert Madden (Texas)
Justin Lee May (Texas)
Frank Basil McFarland (Texas)
Larry Eugene Moon (Georgia)
Joseph O’Dell (Virginia)
Charles Rector (Texas)
Kenneth Ray Ransom (Texas)
Roy Michael Roberts (Missouri)
Cornelius Singleton (Alabama)
David Spence (Texas)
David Stoker (Texas)
Jesse J. Tafero (Florida)
Thomas M. Thompson (California)
Martin Vega (Texas)
Freddie Lee Wright (Alabama)

Here is a list of US states that allow the death penalty with a list of crimes that hold the death penalty as acceptable punishment.

If you read the list below you will see that most are very serious crimes that the death penalty applies to… unlike these here

1. During World War I anyone found to be a homosexual in the French army was executed.

2. Hundreds of years ago in Japan anyone who attempted to leave the country was instantly executed…. I wonder if thats what the poor bastards in the picture to the right did?

And we can not forget the real or fictition one from Indonesia ( I do not know which) regarding execution for masturbation.

The following is taken from The Bureau of Justice Statistics, Capital Punishment 2005, (December 2006, NCJ 215083) lists the following as capital crimes, by state:

Alabama. Intentional murder with 18 aggravating factors (Ala. Stat. Ann. 13A-5-40(a)(1)-(18)).

Arizona. First-degree murder accompanied by at least 1 of 14 aggravating factors (A.R.S 13-703(F)).

Arkansas. Capital murder (Ark. Code Ann. 5-10-101) with a finding of at least 1 of 10 aggravating circumstances; treason.

California. First-degree murder with special circumstances; train wrecking; treason; perjury causing execution.

Colorado. First-degree murder with at least 1 of 17 aggravating factors; treason.

Connecticut. Capital felony with 8 forms of aggravated homicide (C.G.S. 53a-54b).

Delaware. First-degree murder with aggravating circumstances.

Florida. First-degree murder; felony murder; capital drug trafficking; capital sexual battery.

Georgia. Murder; kidnaping with bodily injury or ransom when the victim dies; aircraft hijacking; treason.

Idaho. First-degree murder with aggravating factors; aggravated kidnaping, perjury resulting in death.

Illinois. First-degree murder with 1 of 21 aggravating circumstances.

Indiana. Murder with 16 aggravating circumstances (IC 35-50-2-9).

Kansas. Capital murder with 8 aggravating circumstances (KSA 21-3439).

Kentucky. Murder with aggravating factors; kidnaping with aggravating factors (KRS 32.025).

Louisiana. First-degree murder; aggravated rape of victim under age 12; treason (La. R.S. 14:30, 14:42, and 14:113).

Maryland. First-degree murder, either premeditated or during the commission of a felony, provided that certain death eligibility requirements are satisfied.

Mississippi. Capital murder (97-3-19(2) MCA); aircraft piracy (97-25-55(1) MCA).

Missouri. First-degree murder (565.020 RSMO 2000).

Montana. Capital murder with 1 of 9 aggravating circumstances (46-18-303 MCA); capital sexual assault (45-5-503 MCA).

Nebraska. First-degree murder with a finding of at least 1 statutorily-defined aggravating circumstance.

Nevada. First-degree murder with at least 1 of 15 aggravating circumstances (NRS 200.030, 200.033, 200.035).

New Hampshire. Six categories of capital murder (RSA 630:1, RSA 630:5).

New Jersey. Murder by one’s own conduct, by solicitation, committed in furtherance of a narcotics conspiracy, or during the commission of the crime of terrorism (NJSA 2C:11-3C).

New Mexico. First-degree murder with at least 1 of 7 statutorily-defined aggravating circumstances (Section 30-2-1 A, NMSA).

New York. First-degree murder with 1 of 13 aggravating factors (NY Penal Law Sec. 125.27). (NOTE: On June 24, 2004, the New York death penalty statute was ruled unconstitutional.)
North Carolina. First-degree murder (NCGS 14-17).

Ohio. Aggravated murder with at least 1 of 10 aggravating circumstances (O.R.C. secs. 2903.01, 2929.02, and 2929.04).

Oklahoma. First-degree murder in conjunction with a finding of at least 1 of 8 statutorily-defined aggravating circumstances.

Oregon. Aggravated murder (ORS 163.095). 

Pennsylvania. First-degree murder with 18 aggravating circumstances. 

South Carolina. Murder with 1 of 11 aggravating circumstances (16-3-20(C)(a)). 

South Dakota. First-degree murder with 1 of 10 aggravating circumstances; aggravated kidnaping. 

Tennessee. First-degree murder with 1 of 15 aggravating circumstances (Tenn. Code Ann. Sec. 39-13-204).

Texas. Criminal homicide with 1 of 9 aggravating circumstances (TX Penal Code 19.03). 

Utah. Aggravated murder (76-5-202, Utah Code Annotated). 

Virginia. First-degree murder with 1 of 13 aggravating circumstances (VA Code 18.2-31). 

Washington. Aggravated first-degree murder. 

Wyoming. First-degree murder.