"Texas Death Row": an utterly horrible, utterly compelling book

First, let me warn readers of a sensitive disposition that you definitely will not want to read this blog: please move on, for your own sake.

Beyond Belief by Emlyn Williams, a stunning account of the Moors Murders, probably did more to shape my attitude to the death penalty than any other experience.  

I’m for it, on the grounds that certain murders go so far beyond what defines a reasonable, feeling human being, they deserve to be underlined by a punishment so shocking that it signals our collective abhorrence – a universal “No!” - and marks the line which, when crossed, reveals the criminal to be irredeemably inhuman. The continued existence of these individuals strikes me as an affront to our concept of humanity. Most of them are psychopaths – people born without some of the defining attributes of a human being; most importantly, a conscience or any sort of capacity for compassion (other than for themselves) or any concept of other people as autonomous entities with rights which must be respected. 

One American psychologist reckons about one in 25 adults is a psychopath - i.e. they are incapable of empathy. Another theory suggest that 25% of American prisoners are psychopaths. Now, not all psychopaths end up killing, maiming, torturing or defiling other human beings –– but once they’ve doneany of those things, they should never be allowed to re-enter society: any psychiatrist or criminal justice employee suggesting otherwise has elevated the desire to feel good about themselves above their duty to the rest of us – the innocent majority. And once they’ve killed, psychopaths should be executed.

But how can you tell whether a murderer is a genuine psychopath?

Since 1982, the State of Texas has executed 458 killers - more than all other US states combined, and 38 times more than California, which has the largest number of prisoners on Death Row.

According to the author of the Penguin paperback, Texas Death Row, the reason is simple: “Texans love executions”. Apparently, to oppose the death penalty is political suicide in those parts.

Bill Crawford’s book, which dedicates a page to each of the 391 killers executed up to the time it was ready for publication, does exactly what it says on the tin: its subtitle is “Last Words. Last Meals. Last Rites.” Each entry includes details of their age, race, height, weight, length of time spent in education, prior occupation, age at time of execution, and length of time spent on Death Row. From this we learn they are on the whole male, badly educated and poor. (One assumes rich, smart criminals have ways of avoiding the ultimate penalty in Texas  - i.e. slimy lawyers, tons of cash and connections). But the vast majority of poor, uneducated Texan males don’t commit murder: none of the commonly shared characteristics of these killers yields a clue as to whether they were psychopaths.

Neither does what they chose for their last meal. Many entirely forego the ritual, some go for a double cheeseburger with fries and a Dr Pepper, while quite a high proportion seem determined to meet their maker stuffed with the entire contents of a Macdonald’s, a KFC and a Taco Bell. The menu for one killer’s final meal reads: four barbecue beef ribs, one beef steak, skinless mashed potatoes, pinto beans, ten flour tortillas, two Big Red sodas, three orange sodas, a pint of vanilla ice cream, two chalupas, three tamales, salad with thousand island dressing, barbecue chicken, fried chicken, beef fajitas, and chicken fajitas. 

Was he trying to commit suicide in order to cheat the executioner?

There seems to be no correlation between how greedy a felon turns out to be as he prepares to exit this life and whether he shows any remorse for his crime. Their desperate hunger suggests someone who has spent their whole life wanting more than they’ve got, but doesn’t have the patience, self discipline or brains to get it. 

The nature of some of the crimes, however, suggests the perpetrator is, in all likelihood, a sociopath, rather than someone lashing out in a moment of drug or drink-induced madness. 

David Hicks sexually assaulted his 87-year old grandmother before smashing her head in. Rex Warren Mays entered a neighbour’s home and killed a seven-year old girl and her ten-year old playmate by stabbing them repeatedly in the neck and face. Jeffrey Lynn Williams entered Barabara Jackson Pullins’ apartment, raped and killed her. After trying to set fire to her body by burning a roll of paper towels (!), he discovered her nine-year old daughter in a bedroom. He promptly raped and killed her as well. Nine years old. Ronford Lee Styron Jr. beat his 11-month old son so severely, he died two days later in hospital, because he suspected he wasn’t the biological father. 

The chances of committing acts of such brutal horror and not being a psychopath seem remote.

But it’s the executees’ final statements that are the most revealing. 

Inevitably, many insist on their innocence – of which some will have undoubtedly convinced themselves by this stage. Those who have killed policemen often claim they were acting in self-defence: the cop was out of control, see? Some characterize the death of their victims as “an accident” – they didn’t mean to do any harm, so they shouldn’t really be punished for it. Just happened. Others recite psalms or praise Allah or claim to welcome death because they’re going home to the Lord. About a third offer gushing apologies to their own families – without mentioning the family of their victim. (Many decline to make a statement at all, and verbal last statements made in Spanish aren’t recorded.)

It’s impossible to tell whether most of these people are psychopaths or not. One suspects many are.

The only killers one can be pretty sure aren’t psychos are the ones who apologise wholeheartedly and without equivocation to the families of those they’ve killed: “ I am so sorry for what y’all had to go through. I can’t imagine losing two children. If I was y’all, I would have killed me.” “I want to apologise to the family of Kelly Elizabeth Donovan. I am sorry for what I did to her 12 years ago. I wish they could forgive me for what I did. I am sorry.” “To the Davis family, I am sorry for all the pain that I caused your family.”

As for the ones who apologise to the family of their victim(s) and who then claim some form of shared victimhood for themselves and their plight – i.e. the fact that they’re about to be put to death - they sound like classic psychopaths to me.

It’s interesting to note that the book’s author opposes capital punishment: for me, some of the horrors it contains cry out for it.