TEXAS LAST MEAL
KEVIN LEE ZIMMERMAN
January 21, 2004

Disappointed no more...

Last Meal: Double Meat cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, onions, salad dressing and ketchup, half a plate of french fries--almost burnt--with ketchup, four half pints of milk, 1 piece of chocolate cake--lots of frosting.

The skinny: Zimmerman, 42, was executed for murdering an oilfield worker in a 1987 robbery. He confessed to stabbing the man 31 times so he could get his wallet.

Fairs can be foul: Zimmerman and two friends arrived at a Motel 6 in Beaumont, Texas. While at the motel, they met the victim who was also staying at the motel. After having drinks with the group, the victim suggested that they all go to the fair. All four people returned to the motel after going to the fair.

After some time, one freind went to the bathroom in Zimmerman's motel room and heard a struggle ensuing in the nearby bedroom. In that bedroom, Zimmerman and the other friend, armed with knives, had attacked the man. The two men stabbed him 31 times. Then Zimmerman went to a hospital, where he received treatment for a knife wound.

Zimmerman was subsequently arrested and placed in jail. While in jail, Zimmerman wrote numerous letters to Weber and to the district attorney. In one of these letters to the district attorney, Zimmerman wrote that he had decided to kill the man for his money. Zimmerman also stated in the letter that he was accidentally stabbed in the arm while killing Hooks.

The contents of this letter were corroborated by the testimony of the friend. According to her, Zimmerman and the main were arguing about an incident that had occurred at the fair.

Actually, only six more weeks of "this crap": Zimmerman was scheduled to be executed Dec. 10, 200. That day, his final meal request of fried chicken and pork chops, french fries, scrambled eggs, a bottle of ketchup, lemon meringue pie or chocolate cake and a half-pint of milk was prepared. Twenty minutes before he was scheduled to die, the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in, issuing a stay of execution in light of a lawsuit that challenged the use of a drug used to execute Texas prisoners.

Zimmerman heard the news as he waited in a holding cell and told a Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman that he was “disappointed.” “I was ready to go. The stay only means 18 more months of this crap.”

Last words and such: A sobbing Kevin Zimmerman apologized for the crime as he received a lethal injection while strapped to a gurney in the Texas death chamber. "In the name of Jesus, I'm so sorry for the pain I caused y'all. Gilbert didn't deserve to die. I want you to know. I'm sorry. I pray the good Lord will give y'all peace."

In a prepared statement, Zimmerman said his December ordeal "was a spiritual and emotional drain" and asked that "those who have the power to act" pass a law that bars setting execution dates until all appeals have been exhausted. "It is not fair for an inmate's life to be toyed with by the justice system," he said. "It is not fair nor is it responsible for the states to allow victim's families to be put through the same cruel stress again and again." He described himself as a born-again Christian who confessed his sins and repented.

Factoids:

Five times this month, the vote of one U.S. Supreme Court justice would have stopped the execution of a convicted killer by lethal injection.

The executions went forward, even though four of the nine high court justices wanted to grant at least a temporary reprieve.

Zimmerman is the...

7th murderer executed in U.S. in 2004
892nd murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
3rd murderer executed in Texas in 2004
316th murderer executed in Texas since 1976