Offender Information

Last Statement

Date of Execution:

August 31, 1993

Offender:

Richard J. Wilkerson #756

Last Statement:

This execution is not justice. This execution is an act of revenge! If this is justice, then justice is blind. Take a borderline retarded young male who for the 1st time ever in his life committed a felony then contaminate his TRUE tell all confession add a judge who discriminates plus an ALL-WHITE JURY pile on an ineffective assistance of counsel and execute the option of rehabilitation persecute the witnesses and you have created a death sentence for a family lasting over 10 years.

I will say once again…..This execution isn’t justice – but an act of revenge. Killing R.J. will not bring Anil back, it only justifies "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." It’s too late to help R.J., but maybe this poem will help someone else out there.

"Seeing Through the Eyes of a Death Row Inmate"

Sometime I wonder why, why he? Why did he go out into the world to see? To be out there and see what really did exist, now his name is written down on the Death Row list. I can only imagine how lonesome he was all by himself. We both knew he had no future left! His hopes and dreams became a fantasy. He often said, "There’s nothing left of me." I have asked myself, why did he get involved with drugs? He could never explain why he hung around with thugs? Did it really make him feel like a king – Did he actually think he was capable of getting away with anything? He knew the thought of life wasn’t ticking in his head. There’s nothing left but the memory of those who lay dead. What was did, cannot be undone. He was confessed, he was one of the guilty ones. What would he say to the victim’s family? – I’m sorry and my head wasn’t on straight. I hope you will accept my apology, even though it’s too late. I never knew I would take a life and commit a crime. I regret it because now I have to face the lethal injection while doing death row time. I knew I would pay with struggle and strife, but I never thought the cost would be me losing my life.

Richard J. Wilkerson

Written through his sister Michelle Winn