TEXAS LAST MEAL
WILLIAM E. WYATT JR.
August 3, 2006

Last Meal: Wyatt has no final meal request.

The skinny: Wyatt, a former county jail officer, was put to death for raping and smothering the 3-year-old son of his girlfriend.

More skinny: Wyatt lived at the home of his girlfriend and her 3-year old son. Wyatt babysat the boy after taking his girlfriend to work.

At about 6:07 p.m., Texarkana police received a 9-1-1 call from Wyatt, asking for an ambulance for an accidental drowning victim. When emergency personnel arrived, the boy had no pulse and was not breathing. He was then taken immediately to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead. The medical examiner concluded that the boy was smothered to death. In a statement to authorities, Wyatt stated that he sexually assaulted the boy. Then, believing that the child had placed something in a light socket, he whipped him with a belt. When he began screaming, Wyatt placed a plastic bag over the child’s face until he stopped screaming.

Authorities determined the boy had been sexually assaulted, both in the past and just before he died.

Wyatt says: Wyatt, 41, said he might have been irresponsible in leaving the little boy alone to drown in the bathtub of his Texarkana home 9½ years ago, but didn't kill the toddler.

Wyatt contended his statements to police were coerced.

Wyatt, a Detroit native, was known to his fellow death row inmates as "Motown."

Last words and such: In a brief final statement, Wyatt Jr. thanked relatives for their support. "I went home to be with my father, and I went home as a trooper,'' he told them. Then he addressed his victim's father and grandmother, who watched through a window a few feet from him. "I did not murder your son,'' Wyatt said. "I did not do it. I just want you to know that. I did not murder Damien, and I would ask for all of your forgiveness, and I will see all of you soon.''

Factoids: Wyatt was the...

33rd murderer executed in U.S. in 2006
1037th murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
17th murderer executed in Texas in 2006
372nd murderer executed in Texas since 1976

Texas has nine executions scheduled for the rest of 2006, with three of those set for August.