‘I just want to say I’m really sorry’ – those were the last words spoken by Billy Ray Irick before he was put to death in a Tennessee state prison on Thursday.
Witnesses to Tennessee’s first execution in nearly a decade say Irick at first signaled he would have no last words, but then gave a brief statement to those watching.
Journalists present reported that the blinds between a witness room and the execution chamber were opened at 7:26 p.m. Thursday, and about a minute later, Irick was asked if he had any words before the lethal injection drugs began flowing.
Irick was convicted in the 1985 rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl he was babysitting.
At first he appeared to sigh and say ‘no.’
Tennessee has executed its first inmate since 2009, putting a man to death for the 1985 rape and murder of a 7-year-old Knoxville girl. Authorities say 59-year-old inmate Billy Ray Irick was pronounced dead at 7:48 p.m. Thursday after a three-drug injection at a prison in Nashville
But then he said, ‘I just want to say I’m really sorry and that, that’s it.’
A minute later, his eyes closed. Snoring and heavy breathing were heard.
Then at 7:34 p.m., there was coughing, huffing and deep breaths.
An attendant began yelling ‘Billy’ and checked the inmate and grabbed his shoulder, but there didn’t seem to be any reaction.
Two minutes later, Irick was not making any noise and began to turn dark purple.
He was pronounced dead at 7:48 p.m.
Irick is the first death row inmate executed by Tennessee since 2009.
The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way on Thursday afternoon for the execution, denying Irick’s request for a stay.
John Boylan of Christ the Prophet Church in Spring Hill, Tenn, holds a candle as protesters gather outside of the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution against the execution
But Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a blistering dissent, recounting a recent state court trial of a case brought by 33 death row inmates challenging Tennessee’s execution drugs.
Since its last execution, Tennessee has endured legal challenges and difficulties securing execution drugs including its previous one, pentobarbital.
The state Supreme Court denied a stay Monday, saying a lawsuit filed by inmates contesting the execution drugs being used wasn’t likely to succeed.
Sotomayor wrote that the court is overlooking the potential for ‘torturous pain’ by that method of execution.
Gov. Bill Haslam also declined to intervene.
Irick ate a burger and onion rings before he was executed on Thursday night.
Irick, who raped and murdered seven-year-old Paula Dyer in April 1985, has selected a burger and onion rings as his last meal before his execution on Thursday
Irick, 59, was moved to death watch this week. He is in an 8ft by 10ft cell in sight of the death chamber. Pictured is the death chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Prison in Nashville
Irick, who was convicted of raping and murdering seven-year-old Paula Dyer in 1985, selected the ‘super deluxe combo’ for his last meal.
The meal includes a super deluxe burger, onion rings, and a Pepsi soft drink, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.
The name of the restaurant will not be released ‘out of an abundance of caution’, according to a department spokeswoman.
Death row inmates are limited to $20 for their last meal, according to The Tennessean.
Irick, 59, was moved to death watch this week, meaning he is in an 8ft by 10ft cell in sight of the death chamber with strictly regulated visitation rights.
Irick was first set to be executed on May 4, 1987.
His attorneys have filed a series of appeals through the decades, with claims of insanity and the unconstitutional use of the electric chair as a back-up to lethal injection.
Kathy Jeffers, Paula’s mother, says she feels ‘nothing’ for Irick’s pain following his crimes
In July Irick’s attorney asked for the Tennessee Supreme Court to delay his execution once again amid a challenge to the state’s lethal injection protocol.
For the first time, Tennessee used midazolam as a sedative, the muscle relaxer vecuronium bromid, and then potassium chloride to stop the heart.
At question is whether midazolam is effective in rendering someone unconscious and unable to feel pain from the other two drugs.
But Tennessee Supreme Court judges ruled Irick’s attorney had failed to demonstrate a substantially less painful means to carry out the execution or that the drugs the state plans to use would cause the inmate to be tortured to death.
Federal public defender Kelley Henry had requested the US Supreme Court to delay his execution.
The Supreme Court rarely stays executions.
Henry had asked Haslam to issue a temporary reprieve while the drugs are studied further.
But the governor quickly ruled it out, saying he would not intervene.
‘My role is not to be the 13th juror or the judge or to impose my personal views, but to carefully review the judicial process to make sure it was full and fair,’ Henry said.
‘Because of the extremely thorough judicial review of all of the evidence and arguments at every stage in this case, clemency is not appropriate.’
During the last trial, Henry cited witnesses that described some inmates who still could move, shed a tear, gasp and gulp ‘like a fish out of water’ while being put to death.
‘She was seven years old, raped, sodomized, and strangled to death. I’m sorry, I feel nothing for his pain. Nothing at all. God, forgive me, but I don’t,’ Jeffers said
‘Today’s decision means that Mr Irick faces a scheduled execution date before the courts have had a chance to thoughtfully consider the challenge to the new lethal injection protocol,’ Henry said in a statement on Monday.
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sharon Lee added that she ‘will not join in the rush to execute Mr Irick and would instead grant him a stay to prevent ending his life before his appeal can be adjudicated.’
Attorneys for the state have said the US Supreme Court has upheld the use of midazolam in a three-drug series.
Paula’s mother, Kathy Jeffers, said she has no sympathy for Irick.
‘What he did to her is the reason he’s where he is,’ she told WBIR-TV.
‘I am sick of hearing about his pain and his suffering. What about her pain and her suffering?’
‘She was seven years old, raped, sodomized, and strangled to death. I’m sorry, I feel nothing for his pain. Nothing at all. God, forgive me, but I don’t.’