Execution Report: Gerald Mitchell

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As a juvenile, Mitchell had been arrested for robbery, burglary and taking a pistol to school, and he had served time in a youth detention center. He also supposedly fathered seven children with six women. Since the murders, Mitchell's father has been shot to death, his brother has gone to federal prison for bank robbery, and his mother has been put on probation for drug charges.

On death row, Mitchell expressed remorse about the murders and the direction he took in life. "I was young, I didn't care about living," he said. "I was full of hate, full of rage. I really can't explain why. I was attracted to the wild side, the street life where you're trying to make a name for yourself." However, he believed that at the age of 33, he was no longer the same person who murdered two men. In a letter to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, Mitchell wrote, "I have come so very long a way since the year of that mentally disturbed and unsettled 17-year-young person. I have truly matured."

At his execution, Mitchell asked Charles Marino's family for forgiveness, saying "I am sorry for the life I took from you. I ask God for forgiveness and I ask you for the same. I know it may be hard, but I'm sorry for what I did." He also thanked his family for their support and confessed his faith in Jesus. His last words were, "It's alright. I'm going to a better place." He was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 24 October 2001.
Sources: Texas Attorney General's Office, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Associated Press.