TEXAS LAST MEAL
Calvin King
September 25, 2002

Tide gets the stains out!

LAST MEAL: Half of a fried chicken (cooked in garlic powder and red pepper), French fries, one Dr. Pepper, and hot sauce.

The skinny: Calvin Eugene King, who had at least four other felony convictions, was executed for the robbery and killing of Billy Wayne Ezell during a Beaumont drug deal in 1994. King was on parole at the time. He earlier had multiple convictions for theft in Dallas County in the 1980s before being released on parole or mandatory supervision when Texas prisons were overcrowded and court orders required some inmates to be freed.

HASTE MAKES NO WASTE: In 1995, a Jefferson County jury deliberated only 30 minutes before deciding King was guilty and deliberated just an hour before deciding he should receive the death penalty.

COOKING WITH CASH: The prosector said the money stolen was literally "blood money". He said a witness testified to seeing King and Johnson using her oven to dry the stolen money they had washed to remove Ezell's blood.

Last words: In his brief final statement, King said, "I want to say God forgives as I forgive and God is the greatest. Thank you." He looked at witnesses nodded and smiled before looking back at the ceiling.

Factoid: King was the second Texas inmate to be executed in as many days and the 28th this year.