TEXAS LAST MEAL
ROBERT JAMES ANDERSON
July 20, 2006

Last Meal: Anderson had a final meal request of lasagna, mashed potatoes with gravy, beets, green beans, fried okra, two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream, a fruit pie, tea and lemonade.

The skinny: Anderson, 40, a child sex offender, was executed for abducting and killing a 5-year-old girl in Amarillo 14 years ago.

More skinny: One afternoon, the five-year old girl went outside to play. As she returned home past Anderson's home, he abducted her and took her inside, where he attempted to rape her, then choked, stabbed, beat and drowned her. He then stuffed her body into a large foam cooler, pushed the cooler along the street in a grocery cart and dumped it in a trash bin, where it was discovered.

Upon arrest, Anderson gave a complete confession.

The trial: An Amarillo jury took less than 15 minutes to return a guilty verdict and less than 30 minutes to determine Anderson should die. "By far, it was absolutely the worst thing a little girl could ever go through," Chuck Slaughter, the Potter County assistant district attorney who prosecuted Anderson, said this week. "If there's anybody out there who deserves the punishment he received from a jury, it would be Robert Anderson."

Priors: Anderson had a history of sexual offenses involving children that dated to his teen years in Tulsa, Okla., and said he'd been in and out of centers to deal with his obsession with young girls.

"My whole life is a regret," he said, adding that he looked forward to dying. "I should have been in prison when I was 15."

No appeals: Anderson acknowledged the horrific slaying of the girl and asked that no new appeals be filed to try to block his execution.

Last words and such: "I am sorry for the pain I have caused you," Anderson told the grandmother of his victim. "I have regretted this for a long time. I am sorry." "Anderson also apologized to his family. As the lethal drugs began taking effect, Anderson muttered a prayer. Eight minutes later he was pronounced dead.

Factoids: Anderson was the....

30th murderer executed in U.S. in 2006
1034th murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
16th murderer executed in Texas in 2006
371st murderer executed in Texas since 1976

In 1998, Anderson survived an attack by a fellow death row inmate who stabbed him 67 times with a shank. Anderson said the attack was the result of race-related prison gang extortion efforts and not related to his crime.