Texas inmate says ‘I’m sorry’ before lethal injection execution

The state of Texas has put to death an inmate convicted of killing two men over a phony drug deal, the first US execution of 2017. Christopher Wilkins, 48, was declared dead 13 minutes after a lethal injection of pentobarbital. Before the drug was administered, he twice mouthed “I’m sorry,” to two relatives of one of the murder victims as they watched through a window. He gave no final statement.

I know they are bad decisions. I make them anyway.

Christopher Wilkins to the jury during his trial

Wilkins had explained to jurors at his capital murder trial in 2008 how and why he killed his friends in Fort Worth three years earlier, saying he didn’t care if they sentenced him to death. While awaiting trial, authorities discovered he had swallowed a handcuff key and fashioned a knife to be used in an escape attempt.

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