Death Row information, Character Research and "Last Words" by Anna A. Haas-Krioutchkov (based on death row prisoner, Michael Selsor)

LAST WORDS

My name is 91854

Michael Selsor was I before.

I can see snow falling outside

Might be last time I see this sight.

Government makes the mankind fall,

But they are no God after all,

No need to try and give us hope

Since next month won't make us cope.

Life and death is same after all

One makes you wait, one makes you fall

The only thing we get is time

for regret that will make us whine.

No, my death will not change nothing

I don't think it is going to

the trauma that I put them through

already there, nothing to do

Light at the end of the tunnel

that is the only thing we need

even if the light's far away

a shred of hope will make us keep

The outside world is like a dream

humanity we do not seek

'cause we already have that here

but maybe not the best of it

You're always reminded of death

constantly thinking you will die

and the only thing you're sure of

is that what they say isn't a lie

There is got to be a heaven

'cause I'm living in hell right now

so I hope I have passed the test

so that I will get out of here.

Death Row Information

Death row is a condition applied to prisoners awaiting execution or capital punishment. Figuratively, it refers to a queue of people waiting for death. It also refers to the place, or often a section of a prison, that houses prisoners awaiting execution. After people are found guilty of an offense and sentenced to death, they remain on death row during the investigation of their case and the court procedures, and if those are unsuccessful, until execution.

Nowadays, there is a huge debate over capital punishment, the opponents of this act, usually tend to refer to the fact that some death row inmates become mentally ill from the long-term awaiting with the isolation and uncertainty of their fate. They refer to this as mental cruelty. In extreme cases, some prisoners attempt to suicide.

In the United States, for example, prisoners on death row may wait a very long time before their execution. This is usually due to the complex, expensive, and time-consuming appeal procedures mandated in their jurisdiction. An average calculated in 2010, showed that death row inmates wait an average of 15 years between sentencing and execution. Almost a quarter of the deaths of death row inmates in U.S. are due to natural causes.

The major issues that are treated in debates about capital punishment are: religion, wrongful execution and death row for drug trafficking.

Capital punishment has been used in almost every part of the world, but in the last few decades, a lot of countries have abolished it. Out of the 195 independent states that form the United Nations 100 (51%) have abolished capital punishment, 7 (4%) retain it for crimes committed in exceptional circumstances (such as war), 48 (25%) permit its use for ordinary crimes but have not used it for the past ten years and 40 (20%) maintain the death penalty both, in law and practice. These last 40 countries make up the 66% of the world's population (accurate in 2012).

Capital punishment is currently used in the following countries: Afghanistan, Belarus, Botswana, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, North Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Somalia, Syria, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United States, Vietnam and Yemen.

Capital punishment is legal, but has not been used in the past 10 years, in the following countries: Bahamas, Cuba, Guatemala, South Korea, Russia, Suriname, Tajikistan and Tonga.

The currently used methods for death row executions are: decapitation, electrocution, firing squad (fusillading), gas chamber, hanging, lethal injection and stoning (throwing stones at the subject until he dies). In the past there were a lot of other methods used for capital punishment, but that are nowadays used no more because they are considered unethical or as a torture method. Some of these are: crucifixion, boiling, slow slicing and suffocation in ash.

Capital punishment in the United States is limited under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and is used almost exclusively for aggravated murders committed by mentally competent adults. It is currently a legal sentence in 32 states, thirty-four states have performed executions in the modern era and since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, Texas has performed the most executions, and Oklahoma has had the highest per capita execution rate.

Character Research 

Michael Bascum Selsor was a death row prisoner that was executed on the 1^st of May 2012, by lethal injection in Oklahoma. He was born on the 26^th of September 1954 and the crime he was executed for, was murder. The Victim Clayton Chandler died on the 15^th of September 1975, at the age of 55 years. Michael Selsor was aged 20 when he committed his crime, but it wasn't until the age of 57 years old, that he was executed.

Selsor and Dodson's crime spree began Sept. 4, 1975, when they robbed a convenience store in north Tulsa and shot the clerk, Frank Danyeur, in the back. Danyeur survived. On Sept. 6, Selsor stabbed Naomi Wilson, a store clerk in Jenks, more than 20 times after she screamed for help. During the trial, she identified Selsor as the man who stabbed her. Two more stores were robbed over the next week before Selsor and Dodson robbed another store in west Tulsa. There, Ina Morris was shot seven times and Chandler was shot to death. Morris testified in court that she saw Dodson with the gun and saw him pull the trigger. His 36 years on death row rank Selsor near the top in longevity since the death penalty was reinstated nationwide in 1976.

When Oklahoma's death penalty statute was ruled unconstitutional in 1976, Selsor's death sentence was replaced with a sentence of Life Without Parole. Selsor continued to appeal his conviction, which was overturned in 1996. After a retrial in 1998, Selsor was again convicted and sentenced to death. Accomplice Dodson was acquitted for the murder of Chandler. However, he was convicted of robbery and shooting with intent to kill Morris, with a previous felony conviction. Dodson was sentenced to 50 years for armed robbery, and 199 years for shooting with intent to kill.

In 2010, Michael Selsor granted one interview to Josh Rushing, while making an episode of Fault Lines on the death penalty in the US. This was the only interview Selsor ever granted.

The content of the following poem is based on the words Selsor said in this interview, expressing his thoughts and his view of life. I recommend to read the interview to understand the intention of the poem in much more depth.

Michael Selsor was an opponent of death penalty, in his opinion he didn't think that the government should have power over the life and death of mankind as if they were playing to be God. Personally, he would not agree with the Government being able to sentence someone to life without parole, in his opinion there isn't much difference, one includes killing the person now, and the other of dying at old age and having to wait for an eternity without freedom. He would personally prefer death penalty to life without parole. In his opinion, one of the hardest parts of being in prison is being separated from society.

The last meal he ordered was a Kentucky Fried Chicken’s crispy two breast and one wing meal with potato wedges and baked beans, with an added thigh, apple turnover, two biscuits and honey, salt, pepper and ketchup.

And his final words were: “My son, my sister, I love you. ‘Till I see you again next time, be good. Eric, keep up the struggle. I’ll be waiting at the gates of heaven for you. I hope the rest of you will make it there as well. I’m ready.”