OKLAHOMA LAST MEAL
KENNETH CHARM
June 5, 2003

A forgiving father...

Last Meal: For his final meal, Charm requested fried chicken, french fries, hot peppers, corn on the cob, ketchup and hot sauce.

The skinny: Charm was executed for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl. The victim, a 14 year old Michigan girl, was murdered while visiting her father in Lawton. Prosecutors say Charm knew the victim`s father, and knew she was homesick for her mother in Michigan. So, he promised to buy her new clothes for her trip home. Instead, she was kidnapped by Charm and a 16-year old teen now serving life without parole. They drove her to a remote area where she was raped, strangled and beaten with a sledgehammer.

The defense: Charm`s defense tried to claim he`s mentally retarded. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected their appeal.

The Supreme Court ruled last year against executing the mentally retarded, and the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that people with an IQ of 70 or below shouldn't face the death penalty.

Charm had an IQ of 75, but his lawyers argued IQ tests have a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points.

Last Words and such:In a final statement while awaiting the lethal injection, Charm made a brief apology. "I'd like to apologize to the victim's family. To my family, I ask your forgiveness."

The victim's father reacts: The victim's father watched a friend die when his daughter's killer was put to death. "It's kind of sad, There were two lives lost here. It's not like I didn't know him. It's still hard for me to dislike him, even though he took my little girl."

Factoids: Charm was the ninth person put to death this year in Oklahoma and the 63rd since the state resumed executions in 1990.