OKLAHOMA LAST MEAL
ERIC ALLEN PATTON
August 29, 2006

...Patton said there were demonic forces present and the victim was a demon. A psychiatrist confirmed this version of events at trial. ...

Last Meal: Patton final meal request -- a large pepperoni pizza with sausage and extra mushrooms and a large grape soda. The cost of the meal is limited to $15.

The skinny: Patton, 49, was executed for the 1994 robbery and murder of an Oklahoma City woman. Patton was condemned for stabbing the woman to death with several knives, a barbecue fork and a pair of scissors.

More skinny: At the time of the murder, Patton was employed as a brick mason. He left the job site to buy electrical boxes at a local hardware store. When he returned 4 hours later, he was wearing different clothes and did not have the electrical boxes. During that time, Patton went to the home of the victim and asked to borrow money. The woman had taken the day off from her job at Blue Cross and Blue Shield to go Christmas shopping. He then forced his way into the home, grabbed her by the throat and dragged her through the house looking for money and valuables. He took the woman to the bedroom and stabbed her numerous times. Then, he dragged her down the hallway into the kitchen, stabbing her several more times with a variety of knives and breaking several of them. Finally, he stabbed the victim in the chest with a pair of scissors.

Patton, who had done some painting for the couple, was arrested 13 days later when fingerprints he gave police matched those on a bloody barbecue fork found at the scene. Patton told police first denied but later admitted his involvement, stating that he was high on cocaine and saw himself at the murder scene and stabbing the woman, but he said there were demonic forces present and the victim was a demon. A psychiatrist confirmed this version of events at trial. The jury did not buy the story.

Patton was on a parole for a robbery in California at the time Kauer was killed in her home.
He had a lengthy criminal record of burglaries and robberies in Oklahoma and California.

A new mix...During the execution, corrections officials used an altered drug recipe for the first time. The new system -- in part a response to a challenge filed by Patton -- was to deliver a larger dose of anesthesia before the fatal drugs were administered. Patton had argued that inmates might be subjected to pain during lethal injection. Although a federal judge rejected that argument this month, the Corrections Department revised its procedure. When the drugs began to flow, Patton exhaled deeply. His breathing stopped a few moments later.

Last words and such: While strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber, Patton thanked his family, his legal team, and prison officials. "I want to thank the guards here on death row who have been like family to me, and their lives have been a blessing to me. I've had a good life here on Earth. It's been a blessing. It's been a blast. I want to thank my savior Jesus Christ for all he's done for me. I look forward to being with him now and for eternity."

None of Patton's or the victim's relatives witnessed the execution.

Factoids: Patton was the....

39th murderer executed in U.S. in 2006
1043rd murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
3rd murderer executed in Oklahoma in 2006
82nd murderer executed in Oklahoma since 1976