NORTH CAROLINA LAST MEAL
EARL J. RICHMOND JR.
May 6, 2005

...He even served as a pallbearer at the funerals....

Last Meal: Richmond declined a last meal. At 5 p.m. Thursday, nine hours before the execution, Richmond was scheduled to get the traditional final meal, a dinner of whatever he requested, within reason. Richmond decided not to take this last privilege. "My victims got no last meal," he said in his testimony to the other inmates

The skinny: Richmond, a former Army drill sergeant, was executed for killing and raping a woman and then strangling her two children to death with electrical cords.

More skinny: The bodies of a 27-year-old woman and her two children, aged 8 and 7, were found in their home at the Sunshine Mobile Home Park. She had been beaten and strangled. Her son had been stabbed 40 times with a pair of scissors and had an electrical cord wrapped around his neck five times. Her daughter was strangled with the cord from a curling iron.

Richmond, was a family friend and had dated one the victim's sisters. He even served as a pallbearer at the funerals.

DNA evidence later confirmed that the semen found inside of the woman’s body belonged to Richmond. Richmond initially denied any involvement in the murders, but confessed upon being informed of the DNA evidence.

Richmond was separately convicted in New Jersey and sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder seven months before the the three North Carolina murders. The woman, a payroll clerk at Fort Dix, N.J., had been beaten with a hammer, stabbed, hog-tied and strangled. Richmond did not become a suspect in thatdeath until after he was arrested in the N.C. murder.

The legal machinations...Richmond's appeals lawyers argued that his trial attorneys failed to present expert evidence that he couldn't form intent to kill his victims because he had consumed 20 beers, a fifth of liquor and smoked crack cocaine on the night of the slayings.

Last words and such: Richmond flashed a quick smile at his lawyers. He winked at his two sisters, who gazed at him through thick glass, and told them he loved them. "At this time, I'd like to extend my deepest apologies to all the victims' families and their loved ones. I'd like to say that I'm not a man that shies away from his responsibilities. I'd like to say that I hope that now, through my death, that y'all can move forward with your lives. Thank you and God bless you."

Factoids: Richmond was the....

20th murderer executed in U.S. in 2005
964th murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
2nd murderer executed in North Carolina in 2005
36th murderer executed in North Carolina since 1976