TEXAS LAST MEAL
BRUCE JACOBS
May 15, 2003

"People tell me I'm slow,"...plus our third Psalm....

Last Meal: a whole fried chicken, 12 buttered bread slices, fried onion rings, fried okra, a six-pack of RC Cola, two tomatoes and a large bag of Fritos corn chips.

The skinny: Jacobs was executed for stabbing a boy to death with a butcher knife on the youngster's 16th birthday. Jacobs forced his way into the teenager's Dallas home. The boy was stabbed at least 24 times and part of the knife blade was left imbedded in his body. The boy's father witnessed the crime and identified Jacobs as the killer. The father gave police information for a sketch of the suspect and a taxi driver told authorities the drawing looked like a customer he had the morning of the killing. Jacobs was remembered for his beard and a Panama hat that he wore. Jacobs, still wearing the hat but recently shaven, was arrested inside a convenience store.

ALIBI: Jacobs, who worked mostly as a dishwasher and had a criminal history of violence with knives and razor blades, acknowledged he was in the Harris house at 6:30 that morning but said another intruder in the house at the same time was to blame for the killing.

"I'm going to get executed for something I didn't do," he said recently from death row. "Somebody jumped me from behind... I left and went home. I didn't know there was a murder until three days later."

Last minute machinations: Defense lawyers claimed Jacobs was mentally ill but couldn't prove he was mentally retarded. When he was 14, an intelligence test put Jacobs' IQ at 77 while subsequent testing over the years put his IQ somewhat higher. Someone with an IQ less than 70 generally is considered retarded.

"People tell me I'm slow," Jacobs, a 10th-grade dropout, said from death row.

Last words and such: Jacobs thanked a few supporters who watched from a nearby observation room and said "Take care of yourselves and y'all stay strong." Then, Jacobs recited the 23rd Psalm (see below) as his final statement. He spent the last six months memorizing it.

Factoid: Jacobs become the 15th killer put to death this year in Texasand the 304th inmate executed by Texas since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982.

There are two executions scheduled for next month in Texas.

The condemned man's father, who cannot attend the execution in Huntsville because of his failing health, said he will be sitting by the phone just in case his son calls to wish him a final farewell – or, for the first time, admit his crime.

"He's never told me a thing about it," he said. "If he calls, all I would ask him is, 'Did you tell the chaplain all your sins? If you didn't, get on your knees and tell the Lord all you've done.' They can pour 5 gallons of water over him and baptize him, but if he lies, he's going straight to hell."

The 23rd Psalm

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name' sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

He spent the last six months memorizing it.