Truemors
Can't say I'm for the death penalty, but in some cases, it's just the right thing to do:
(AP) A Kentucky inmate who resisted all appeals to stop his execution was put to death Friday for murdering two young children.
In the state's first execution in nine years, Marco Allen Chapman was given a lethal injection at the Kentucky State Penitentiary. He was pronounced dead at 7:34 p.m. CST.
The 37-year-old pleaded guilty in 2004 to killing 7-year-old Chelbi Sharon and 6-year-old Cody Sharon in their northern Kentucky home in an attack that wounded their mother and another child. Chapman asked to be executed and fought for the right to fire his attorneys to clear the way.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Chapman said to witnesses before his execution. He lifted his head off the gurney, looked into the victim's witness room and spoke.
"I just want you to know that I'm not a monster, but I committed a monstrous, evil act," Chapman said. "This is the man I am, willing to give his life."
His last words were "yes, sir," when the warden asked him if he was ready to proceed.
Carolyn Marksberry, who survived Chapman's attack in 2002 along with her daughter Courtney, said in a statement that the execution may allow her two slain children to "truly rest in peace."
"I believe the tears shed today should be for the victims of this crime, not Marco Chapman," Marksberry said in the statement. "Marco Chapman committed the crimes, accepted responsibility for those crimes and then decided his own fate."
Chapman took a Bible, writing materials and a television to the execution house Thursday, said Lisa Lamb, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Corrections. He requested a last meal of a 32-ounce sirloin steak, 20 butterfly shrimp, salad, iced tea and a banana cream pie.
CHAPMAN, MARCO ALLEN, DOB 9-4-71, was convicted of murder, 2 counts; attempted murder, 2 counts; rape I; burglary I; robbery I and PFO II. He was formally sentenced on 12-14-2004 to death. In the early morning of August 23, 2002, Marco Chapman murdered a 7-year old girl and a 6-year old boy in their home in Warsaw, Kentucky (Gallatin County). Both the children's throats had been slit and they had multiple lacerations and stab wounds on their bodies. Their 10-year old sister played dead after being stabbed several times. The children's mother's hands were bound with duct tape and she was tied to a bed frame. She was raped and stabbed in the chest with a knife that broke off in her chest. She was later stabbed with a larger knife and left for dead. After stabbing the victims, Chapman burglarized the home and left the scene. He was arrested later the same day by state police in West Virginia. He received a change of venue from Gallatin Circuit Court to Boone Circuit Court.
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