GEORGIA LAST MEAL
LARRY MOON
March 25, 2003

Full Moon....

Last Meal: steak, pork chops, potatoes, okra, corn, green beans, dinner rolls, walnut ice cream and iced tea

The skinny: Moon was executed for the slaying of a man kidnapped at gunpoint from a store parking lot. The victim's body was found the next day in a chert pit (Ed. Aside: Chert is a variety of silica that contains microcrystalline quartz) and had been shot twice in the head. He had gone to the store to buy aspirin for his wife. When Moon was arrested, police found the murder weapon and some of the victim's music tapes.

SPREE! After the shooting, Moon fled to Tennessee, where he continued a crime spree until he was arrested less than one month later in Oneida, Tenn. Moon had the murder weapon used to kill the victim in his back pocket when he was arrested.

Protestations and such: Moon, teary-eyed, chin quivering and only moments away from death, denied guilt. "I'm innocent. I did not kill Ricky Callahan," Moon said. Those were his only remarks. He stared silently at the ceiling before gradually closing his eyes. Moon was offered a sedative about one hour before the execution but he refused. They offered one to him a second time about 30 minutes before the execution and he again refused.

Odd Law: Moon's execution was carried out in front of the 17 witnesses however, under Georgia law neither the victim's family nor Moon's family were present.

Some friend: Moon always maintained he was innocent of the crime, blaming a friend, Mickey Lee Davis, for framing him. Moon's attorney, Charles Surasky, said two people had come forward saying that Davis confessed to them he committed the crime and then gave Callahan's car to Moon. Davis died in 1988 in a motorcycle accident, two years after he escaped jail while awaiting his own murder trial.

Factoids:It was Geogia's ninth execution by injection. He was the 32nd person executed in Georgia since it brought back the death penalty in 1973. The last execution by electric chair in Georgia was carried out in 1998.

OKLAHOMA LAST MEAL
JOHN HOOKER
March 25, 2003

Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom...

Last Meal: three chicken breasts and three chicken wings from KFC, broccoli spears with cheese sauce, a baked potato with sour cream and chives, two bacon cheeseburgers, two slices of cherry cheesecake and two 7-Ups.

The Skinny: Hooker was executed for stabbing his girlfriend and her mother to death. Hooker was executed almost 15 years after the stabbing. The mother of his three young children, had moved out of the Oklahoma City apartment she shared with Hooker a week before the murders. She had told her sister she feared Hooker would hurt her and the children. She was right.

Shoody Work: In 2001, officials re-examined DNA evidence in Hooker's case because it originally had been handled by Oklahoma City police chemist Joyce Gilchrist. Investigators retested DNA evidence submitted in all of Gilchrist's cases after officials accused her of performing shoddy work. Results of the retesting, however, showed that blood from Stokes and Morgan was found on Hooker's pants.

Last Words and Such: As the curtains in the death chamber were drawn, Hooker smiled at those who came to witness on his behalf. "To all my family and friends, I'm all hooked up," he said. "I can't even move. I'm at peace. Y'all stay up. I'm out."

Factoid: Oklahoma is quickly catching Missouri for third place in the standings...Mizzou 60, Oklahoma 59.

DME.com is on the road (Vegas, baby, Vegas!). Last meal-o-rama late tonight or early Thursday a.m. Off to the tables...