HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Three killers were executed in Texas, Oklahoma and Georgia Tuesday night, including one who failed to produce his promised killer laughs.
Patrick Knight, 39, who had promised to tell a joke at his execution by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas, ultimately issued a statement saying "Death has set me free. That's the biggest joke (because) I deserve this. And the other joke is I am not Patrick Bryan Knight and ya'll can't stop this execution now."
Randall County Sheriff Joel Richardson said that despite "all the hype ... it turns out he's not much of a comedian."
Knight was executed for the August 1991 abduction and killing of Walter and Mary Werner, The Huntsville Item reported.
In Jackson, Ga., triple killer John Hightower apologized to his victims before his execution by lethal injection, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Hightower, 63, was sentenced to death for killing his wife and stepdaughters.
In McAlester, Okla., state corrections officials executed Jimmy Bland, 49, by lethal injection, Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty reported on its Web site. Bland was executed despite suffering from terminal lung cancer. He had been convicted of two slayings, The Oklahoman said.
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