Arizona executes Robert Moormann

Robert Moormann

Robert Moormann, who killed his mother and chopped her into pieces during a compassionate leave from prison 28 years ago, was put to death Wednesday morning by lethal injection.

Moments before the lethal injection began, Moormann smiled at the witnesses assembled behind glass nearby. In his last words, he apologized to his family and to his victim in a 1972 abduction and rape.

"I hope that this will bring closure and they can start the healing now," he said. "And I just hope they will forgive me in time."

It was the first Arizona execution carried out with a single drug instead of a three-drug cocktail. But result was the same. Execution started at 10:23 and ended at 10:33, roughly the same amount of time that the execution with the three-drug protocol took. Moormann died with a peaceful look on his face.

Moormann's execution at Arizona State Prison Complex - Florence came after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court denied last minute requests for a stay late Tuesday and early Wednesday.

Prison officials fulfilled Moormann's Tuesday night request for a last meal consisting of a hamburger, fries, two beef burritos, three RC Colas and rocky road ice cream.

Wednesday morning, Moormann met with a Catholic deacon, telling him he was "ready to go home" and that he hoped there would be healing after his execution. According to prison officials, he prayed, took communion and said, "I trust God."

Moormann died within a few hundred yards of where he committed one of the more bizarre and brutal murders in Arizona history.

Click here to read the full article

Source: AZCentral.com, Feb. 29, 2012

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