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Opinion
What legacy will we leave for others?
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
First, Luther Jerome Williams claimed he was passed out drunk in the backseat of a car when John Robert Kirk was taken into the woods and shot in the head. Unfortunately, Williams' two cohorts disagreed as did two eyewitnesses.
It's been almost 20 years since that cold January day when Williams sealed his fate. He's been residing in an Alabama prison since that time filing countless appeals to halt his execution.
Williams was one of the first death row inmates to seek a halt to his execution on the grounds that the legal lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment. That appeal brought a halt to executions in several states including Missouri. But last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled narrowly against Williams. He was executed later that day.
I've read thousands of stories through the years concerning the final hours of the condemned. There is an obvious pattern to their final stories. Williams was no different.
Police say Williams stole a car earlier on that fateful day and used a weapon found in the car to kill Kirk. Kirk was an elderly man who had car problems that day. Williams and his two companions saw an easy mark. He walked Kirk into a nearby woods and shot him once in the head.
What struck me about this story was the very final chapter. On his last day on this earth, Williams had a visit from his 18-year-old son. He willed his personal possessions to his son - a box of legal papers, a check for $38.97 and a television set. And then he was gone.
We all hope to leave some legacy on this earth. It most definitely does not have to be a legacy of material possessions. It should be a legacy of character, integrity, honesty, etc.
Luther Jerome Williams left a broken television set and a check for $38.97 as his legacy. And that was more than the legacy of character, integrity and honesty.
Sometimes we pass through this world and leave our mark. Williams left his mark like thousands of others. Unfortunately that mark was far from a source of pride or accomplishment.