Les MacDonald

            

 

 

                                

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                     Here are a few short chapters from Any Last Words?

 

 

 

 

                                               Roger Coleman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

   On March 10, 1981, 19 year old Wanda McCoy was raped and stabbed to death at her home in Buchanan County, Virginia. Wanda’s brother-in-law, Roger Coleman, was the only real suspect. Despite DNA tests linking him to the murder, Coleman insisted all along that he was innocent. He was eventually found guilty of the crime and sentenced to death. As the time got closer to the execution date, death penalty activists rallied to try to save Coleman’s life. Even Time Magazine entered the death penalty debate by doing a cover story. There seemed to be plenty of doubt as to whether or not the state of Virginia was about to execute an innocent man.

 

  An execution date was set for May 20, 1992. When asked if he had any final words, Coleman had this to say: “An innocent man is going to be murdered tonight. When my innocence is proven, I hope Americans will realize the injustice of the death penalty as all other civilized countries have.” Roger Keith Coleman then met his fate in Virginia’s electric chair. Many people contended that the state of Virginia had executed an innocent man. Coleman’s execution became the cornerstone of the anti-death penalty movement. That side of the debate figured that Coleman would eventually be cleared by new and improved DNA testing. They got their answer 14 years later. Coleman’s case was just the second time in the United States that DNA was tested in a case after an execution. The headline of an article in the January 13, 2006 edition of the New York Times says it all. DNA TIES MAN EXECUTED IN ’92 TO MURDER HE DENIED. The state of Virginia got it right after all.

 

 

 

 

                             James French - Oklahoma

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                          James French and Oklahoma's electric chair

 

 

 

   In 1958, French was hitchhiking his way across Texas when he was picked up. French repaid the driver by taking him hostage and murdering him in Oklahoma. The story goes that French was not looking forward to spending his life behind bars. Being deathly afraid of suicide, he decided to commit another crime to force the state of Oklahoma to execute him. To that end, French murdered his cellmate on October 17, 1961. French’s final words were: “Hey fellas! How about this for tomorrow’s headline? French Fries! The state of Oklahoma executed James French in the electric chair on August 10, 1966.