TEXAS LAST MEAL
DERRICK WAYNE FRAZIER
August 31, 2006

...Frazier said that he felt no remorse for the victims. "Driving down the highway," he said, "you see a raccoon on the side of the road. It just got run over by a truck. Do you have any remorse? You didn't even know that raccoon, did you?"...

Last Meal: Frazier made no final meal request.

The skinny: Frazier was executed for the slayings of a mother and her teenage son at their home.

More skinny: Frazier and co-defendant Jermaine Herron knocked on the door of the victim's mobile home, claiming car trouble and needing to make a phone call. The mother, age 41, invited them in, gave them iced tea and offered to drive them in her pickup the 10 miles to town.

When she went out to start her vehicle, Frazier followed her. When she went back into the house, he shot her in the face with a 9-millimeter handgun. He then shot her again in the back of the head. Herron shot the 15-year old son one time in the head and three more times in the chest and abdominal area with a 9-millimeter handgun.

Frazier and the co-defendant then took the pickup and fled the scene. The husband found the bodies of his wife and son when he arrived home from work. Frazier and Herron had earlier showed up at a home near the residence and inquired about work. During the visit, they spotted guns in the house and decided to return to steal them. They came back the next day when the people who lived there were gone, broke in, sat around drinking in the house and watched as the victim drove up to her place. Then they walked over and told her the story about their car breaking down. After the shooting, they used her truck to carry loot from the neighbor's house, including some clothing Frazier was wearing when he was arrested in Victoria, about 30 miles to the north. The truck was found parked outside Frazier's apartment and items taken from the burglary were recovered from his girlfriend. Frazier's fingerprints were inside the truck.

Upon arrest, both Herron and Frazier admitted to the crimes in separate confessions. Frazier blamed the slayings on Herron. Herron, testifying at his own trial, blamed them on Frazier.

Frazier had an earlier conviction for aggravated assault for shooting a man and a juvenile conviction for robbery. When he was arrested for the killings, he had assault charges pending against him. In May 2006, Jermaine Herron was executed by the State of Texas for these crimes.

Interviews: Frazier gave a television interview in April 2006, when a previous execution date was approaching. In the interview, Frazier said that he felt no remorse for the victims. "Driving down the highway," he said, "you see a raccoon on the side of the road. It just got run over by a truck. Do you have any remorse? You didn't even know that raccoon, did you?"

Frazier blamed a coerced confession for convincing a jury to convict him of capital murder and the decision that he should be put to death. "I wasn't there. I did not commit the crime," Frazier, also known by his Muslim name, Hasan al-Shakur, said last week from death row.

But Michael Sheppard, the Refugio County district attorney who prosecuted Frazier and Herron, said Frazier was "cool as a cucumber" as he talked about the June 26, 1997, slayings. "There are videotapes," Sheppard said of Frazier's discussions with detectives following his arrest. "He's sitting on a couch, drinking a Coke. "In his confession he talked about details only someone in the house would know, where the bodies were, how many bullets were in them, where they were shot.

Last words and such: "I am innocent. An innocent man is being put to death. I've professed my innocence for nine years and I will continue to profess my innocence for another nine years," Frazier said. He repeatedly told the woman he married by proxy that he loved her.

"Tell my people we must continue on. Do not give up the fight. Do not give up hope. We can make it happen," he said. After again expressing love to the woman, who was sobbing as she watched through a window a few feet away, he told her: "Stay strong, Baby. I love you forever." He was urging her to smile as the lethal drugs began taking effect.

"He deserved just what he got, only a lot worse," Jerry Nutt, who lost his wife and only child in the killings, said after watching Frazier die. He also witnessed Herron's execution. "I just wish I could have done it myself," he said. "I'd kind of liked to have been the one to push the button. "I know that sounds pretty cold, but when you lose someone like I've lost, my wife and son, and you hear animals like that, playing the system, getting a stay, cruel and unusual punishment is us waiting on justice."

Factoids: Frazier was the....

41st murderer executed in U.S. in 2006
1045th murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
20th murderer executed in Texas in 2006
375th murderer executed in Texas since 1976

Frazier was the 20th Texas prisoner executed this year, one more than all of last year in the nation's most active death penalty state. At least seven other executions are scheduled for the remainder of year.