/ck/ - Food & Cooking

James Beathard
Executed: 9 December 1999
Education: 15 years
Occupation: Motorcycle mechanic
After his trial, the prosecution's key witness recanted his testimony and three members of the parole board recommended clemency.
Last statement: "I want to start out by acknowledging the love that I've had in my family. No man in this world has had a better family than me. I had the best parents in the world. I've had the most wonderful life any man could have ever had. I've never been more proud of anyone than I have of my daughter and son.

"[There are a] couple of matters I want to talk about since this is one of the few times people will listen to what I have to say. The United States has gotten [to a place] now where [there is] zero respect for human life. My death is just a symptom of a bigger illness. At some point, the government has got to wake up and stop doing things to destroy other countries and killing innocent children. The ongoing embargo and sanctions against places like Iran and Iraq, Cuba and other places - they are not doing anything to change the world and they are hurting innocent children.

"Perhaps more important in a lot of ways is what we are doing to the environment is even more devastating because as long as we keep going the direction we're going the end result is it won't matter how we treat other people because everybody on the planet will be on their way out.

"One of the few ways in the world the truth is ever going to get out, or people are ever going to know what's happening, [is] as long as we support a free press out there. I see the press struggling to stay existent as a free institution."