NORTH CAROLINA LAST MEAL
FRANK RAY CHANDLER
November 12, 2004

Last Meal: A Pizza Hut thin-crust, medium pizza topped with extra cheese, pepperoni, ham, Canadian bacon, mushrooms and black olives served with iced milk.

The skinny: Chandler was executed at 2 a.m. for breaking into a home hoping to steal marijuana and killing the 90-year-old woman who lived there. He had been drinking and thought he was breaking into a home where he had gotten drugs,

More skinny: The victim, a ninety-year-old widow who lived alone, was found on her bed in a pool of blood, killed during a burglary of her home. She was nude from the waist down, partially covered by a sheet.

Forced entry was found at the rear of her home and Chandler's fingerprints were found inside on a door to the kitchen. Death was caused by a blow to the head. At trial, Chandler attempted to explain away his fingerprints by admitting that he broke into the house, but that he was startled by a scream, turned and accidentally struck the victim. The jury was not impressed, although they did find him not guilty of attempted rape.

The death sentence for Chandler earned opposition from a staunch supporter of capital punishment who said the circumstances merited a lesser sentence. The jury said the circumstances of the death included aggravating factors that justified the death penalty. But State Supreme Court Justice Robert Orr -- ordinarily a death penalty supporter -- said that was wrong, because Chandler didn’t kill for money.

Leading up to: Chandler was allowed visitors until 11 p.m. From then, he had until 1 a.m. to meet with a chaplain or spend time alone. At 1 a.m., the warden was to tell him to prepare to die.

Last words and such: Chandler made no final statement.

Factoids: Chandler was the...

58th murderer executed in U.S. in 2004
943th murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
4th murderer executed in North Carolina in 2004
34th murderer executed in North Carolina since 1976