Execution Report: John Burks

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Burks, who knew Contreras, claimed innocence. "The person who killed Jesse is still out there. I didn't do it, but the courts said I did and I am ready to go," he said in an interview last week. Of his co-defendants, he stated, "Mark is doing 40 years basically for having a green Chevrolet. ... I can't say I'm mad at Aaron. I think he was just doing what he thought he had to do to get out of that mess we was in."

In his final statement, Burks assured his family that everything was "going to be all right." He added, "The Raiders are going all the way, y'all." He was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m.

After the execution, an investigator hired by the defense told reporters that Burks all but confessed to Contreras' murder to him. "He told me he threw the gun in the Gulf of Mexico", the investigator said. He said he withheld that information from Burks' lawyers until after the execution so as not to impair their efforts to defend him.

By David Carson. Posted on 16 July 2000.
Sources: (unavailable)