[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
the Suburban and thanked God his teenage daughter was listening to rock music
and not watching what was going on in the parking lot. Melanie was off in her
own little world as usual.
"Let's skedaddle home," Starkey said as he scrunched down into the front seat.
"And Mel, could you turn that damn music up?"
That was when his daughter looked up and spotted the couple kneeling in the
lot. "What's the matter with those two?" she asked her father. "They're like,
kneeling in the rain."
Starkey finally managed a thin smile. "Guess they just been saved, and now
they're thanking the Lord," he said.
Chapter Thirty
On a cold day in early October, Sampson and I made the six-hour trip by car
back to Central Prison in Raleigh. We talked very little on the ride down. The
clock had run out on Ellis Cooper.
Two days earlier, Cooper had been officially informed of his execution date by
North Carolina's Department of Corrections. Then he had been moved to the
prison's death watch area. Things were proceeding in an orderly, and deadly
fashion.
Sampson and I had been authorized by the Division of Prisons to visit Sergeant
Cooper. When we arrived at Central Prison, about a dozen protesters were out
in the parking areas. Most were women and they sang gentle folk songs that
Page 39
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
harked back to the Sixties or even earlier. Three or four held up signs
condemning capital punishment.
We hurried inside the prison and could still hear the mournful hymns beyond
the heavy stone and mortar walls.
The death watch area at Central had four cells lined up side by side and
opened to a day room with a TV and shower. Ellis Cooper was the only prisoner
on death watch at that time. Two corrections officers were stationed outside
his cell twenty-four hours a day. They were respectful and courteous when we
arrived.
Ellis Cooper looked up as we entered the area and seemed glad to see us. He
smiled and raised his hand in greeting.
"Hello, Ellis," Sampson said in a quiet voice as we took chairs outside the
cell. "Well, we're back. Empty-handed, but we're back."
Cooper sat on a small stool on the other side of the bars. The legs of the
stool were screwed into the floor. The cell itself was immaculately clean, and
sparsely furnished with a bed, sink, toilet and a wall-mounted writing table.
The scene was depressing and desperate.
"Thank you for coming, John and Alex. Thanks for everything that you've done
for me."
Tried to do," said Sampson. Tried and failed. Fucked up is all we did."
Cooper shook his head. "Just wasn't in the cards this time. Deck was stacked
against us. Not your fault. Not anybody's," he muttered. "Anyway, it's good to
see the two of you. I was praying you'd come. Yeah, I'm praying now,"
Sampson and I knew that vigorous legal efforts were still proceeding to try to
stop the execution, but there didn't seem much reason to talk about it. Not
unless Cooper chose to bring it up, and he didn't. He seemed strangely at
peace to me, the most relaxed I'd seen him.
His salt-and-pepper hair was cut short and his prison coveralls were neat and
looked freshly pressed.
He smiled again. "Like a nice hotel in here, I know. Luxury hotel. Four stars,
five diamonds, whatever signifies the finest. These two gentlemen take good
care of me. Best I could expect under the circumstances. They think I'm guilty
of the three murders, but they're pleasant all the same."
Then Cooper leaned into the steel bars and got as close as he could to
Sampson. This is important for me to say, John. I know you did your best, and
I hope you know that too. But like I said, the deck against me was stacked so
goddamn high. I don't know who wanted me to die, but somebody sure did."
He looked directly at Sampson. "John, I have no reason in the world to lie to
you. Not now, not here on death watch. I didn't murder those women."
Chapter Thirty-One
Twenty-four hours earlier, Sampson and I had signed an agreement to be
searched before we entered the execution room. Now, at one o'clock in the
morning, sixteen men and three women were led into the small viewing room
inside the prison. One of the men was General Stephen Bowen from Bragg. He'd
kept his promise to be there. The US Army's only representative.
Page 40
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
At twenty minutes past one in the morning, the black drapes to the execution
chamber were opened for the witnesses. I didn't want to be there; I didn't
need to see another execution to know how I felt about them. On the order of
the prison warden, the lethal injection executioner approached Cooper. I heard
Sampson take in a breath beside me. I couldn't imagine what it would be like
for him to watch his friend die like this.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]