Did you know Texas keeps a list of executed inmates’ last words?

FILE – The state of Texas execution chamber in Huntsville, Texas, is pictured on May 27, 2008. A gaggle of Texas dying row inmates filed a federal lawsuit Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023, towards the state’s jail system over its coverage of completely holding in solitary confinement all prisoners who’re awaiting execution. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Government databases maintain a trove of information, and with the advances of know-how, a lot of it has grow to be extra available. But what kind of information is open to the general public?

A noteworthy discovery within the on-line database for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice reveals a list of executed death row inmates, and obtainable on the list are the last statements given by the inmates, which can be found for anybody to learn.

Texas adopted deadly injection as means of execution in 1977 and executed the primary inmate by deadly injection on Dec. 7, 1982. The inmate was 40-year-old Charlie Brooks, Jr., and he was the primary individual to depart a closing assertion to be recorded within the TDCJ on-line archive.

According to the TDCJ database, Brooks was positioned on dying row after a mechanic was shot and killed in 1976 in Tarrant County.

I, at this very second, have completely no worry of what might occur to this physique. My worry is for Allah, God solely, who has at this second the one energy to find out if I ought to reside or die… As a religious Muslim, I’m taught and consider that this materials life is just for the specific objective of making ready oneself for the true life that’s to come back… Since turning into Muslim, I’ve tried to reside as Allah needed me to reside.

Charlie Brooks, Jr.’s last assertion

On the list, many of the last statements have been expressions of religion, love for household and/or sympathy and apology for individuals affected by the crime. There have been additionally occurrences the place individuals declined to make a assertion.

John Balentine, 54, was executed on Feb. 9. Ballentine was discovered responsible of capital homicide after taking pictures and killing three youngsters in Amarillo in 1998. In his assertion, Balentine apologized for the crime.

I need to thank y’all. I like y’all for supporting me. I need to apologize for the improper I did to y’all. Forgive me, I’m prepared ma’am.

John Balentine’s last assertion

According to the TDCJ, the common time on dying row previous to execution is 11.22 years. The shortest time on dying row in Texas was 252 days, and the longest was 11,575 days. In the state, the youngest individual on the time of execution was 24 years outdated, whereas the oldest was 78 years outdated.

According to the TDCJ, the next crimes represent Capital Murder in Texas:

• homicide of a peace officer or fireman who’s appearing within the lawful discharge of an official obligation and who the individual is aware of is a peace officer or fireman;
• homicide through the fee or tried fee of kidnapping, housebreaking, theft, aggravated sexual assault, arson, obstruction or retaliation, or terroristic menace;
• homicide for remuneration or promise of remuneration or using one other to commit homicide for remuneration or promise of remuneration;
• homicide throughout escape or tried escape from a penal establishment;
• homicide, whereas incarcerated in a penal establishment, of a correctional worker or with the intent to ascertain, preserve, or take part in a mixture or within the earnings of a mixture;
• homicide whereas incarcerated in a penal establishment for a conviction of homicide or capital homicide;
• homicide whereas incarcerated in a penal establishment serving a life sentence or a 99-year sentence for a conviction of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, or aggravated theft;
• homicide of a couple of individual throughout the identical legal transaction or throughout completely different legal transactions however the murders are dedicated pursuant to the identical scheme or course of conduct;
• homicide of a person below 10 years of age, or older than 10 years of age however youthful than 15 years of age; or
• homicide in retaliation for or on account of the service or standing of the opposite individual as a decide or justice of the supreme courtroom, the courtroom of legal appeals, a courtroom of appeals, a district courtroom, a legal district courtroom, a constitutional county courtroom, a statutory county courtroom, a justice courtroom, or a municipal courtroom.

History of Death Row executions in Texas

Since 1819, the State of Texas has executed 1,334 individuals. According to the TDCJ, the newest execution was Feb. 9, 2023.

Hanging was used as a means of execution from 1819 to 1923, till the use of the electrical chair was approved within the state, in line with the TDCJ. Between 1819 and 1923, 390 individuals have been executed by hanging.

Starting in 1923, all executions have been ordered to be carried out in Huntsville, Texas. Prior to the order, Texas counties have been liable for their very own executions, in line with the TDCJ.

The electrical chair remained the primary execution methodology till 1964.

“A total of 361 inmates were electrocuted in the State of Texas,” the TDCJ stated.

In June 1972, capital punishment was declared “cruel and unusual punishment” by the U.S. Supreme Court. According to the TDCJ, in 1973, a revision to the Texas Penal Code allowed for executions to renew beginning Jan. 1, 1974.

On Jan. 12, 1996, the state began permitting shut kinfolk and pals of the deceased sufferer to witness executions.

The TDCJ stated Texas leads the nation within the quantity of executions because the dying penalty was reinstated in 1976. Texas additionally ranks third in having one of the most important dying row populations. Tther states included California, Florida and Alabama.

Data from the TDCJ confirmed executions in Texas peaked in 2000, when 40 individuals have been put to dying.