The last 35 days of his life, Robert was placed on “Death Watch” where his every move was recorded and chronicled by prison officials. Robert kept a diary and he sent his writings to his attorneys. Robert authorized his lawyers to release his diary after his execution.
“Death Watch Diary” is available now as a FREE PDF version at www.deathwatchdiary.com. A $.99 ebook download on amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007JD3LUM is available in Kindle format.
In his narrative, Robert picks at the ironies and absurdities of life in prison. He revels in simple pleasures, such as a good meal or a sports event on television. He yearns for the human contact from his last visitors, and he touchingly tries to comfort his pod-mate, who doesn’t really understand that he is going to his death.
As often happens, the man who was executed was not the same man who had committed the crime. Robert had 20 years to think about his crime and once he was free of the drugs and the torment, he became a thoughtful man. Robert apologized to the family of his victim and to his own family both in his clemency hearing and in his last words before his execution.
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Beginning Feb. 2, the day he was taken from his regular cell at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Eyman in Florence and put on "Death Watch," Towery chronicled his life for his attorneys. There, he was housed with fellow Death Row inmate Robert Moormann, who was executed Feb. 29.
On March 7, his last night on Earth, Towery was taken a few miles down the road to "Housing Unit 9," in the main prison, where Arizona carries out executions by lethal injection. He made his last diary entry the next morning.
These are excerpts from that diary - Towery's words, his descriptions of the tedium, the rituals, the security, the indignities and the humanity, precisely as he wrote it - right up to the morning of his execution. Excerpts:
On March 7, his last night on Earth, Towery was taken a few miles down the road to "Housing Unit 9," in the main prison, where Arizona carries out executions by lethal injection. He made his last diary entry the next morning.
These are excerpts from that diary - Towery's words, his descriptions of the tedium, the rituals, the security, the indignities and the humanity, precisely as he wrote it - right up to the morning of his execution. Excerpts:
February 2, 2012
And so it begins . . .
First, allow me to apologize for the messiness of these first letters as I was not allowed my reading glasses because they had a crack in them, and I was holding the lens in with tape. So, I can’t see, and until I get my new reading glasses, these updates will be fairly messy.
Furthermore, I was not given my watch, so for the most part, all times will be best guesses.
6:00 a.m.: They came to my cell, stripped me out and then took me to the Shift Commander’s office where I waited for about 20 minutes for everyone to show up. Other than the correctional officer operating the camera, there was the complex warden, complex deputy warden, unit deputy warden and the assistant deputy warden.
The unit warden began to read the warrant, only to discover they were missing pages. So I offered my copy and they sent a correctional officer to my cell who brought back the box containing my copy. In the meantime, the unit warden went over the changes in my confinement, how I would have access to indigent supplies and could have one box of legal work and personal papers, and one religious box. For everything else I would have to put in a “written request,” which I had already done on 1-11-12 (personally handing them over to a correctional officer), at which point I mentioned this and he said he had received them and that after a week he would “evaluate” my conduct and then send them in for processing. The correctional officer returned, they took out and read my copy of the warrant.
Then I was taken to medical where my vitals were taken. My blood pressure was 140/825 (or somewhere near that) and the scale said “GET OFF!” (231 lbs)
From there I was taken to processing where my moustache was trimmed. I was fingerprinted, photographed (wide lens was required. Then I came back to the housing section, was taken to George side and placed in one of the death watch cells. This was roughly 8:00 AM.
A correctional officer and the property sergeant brought in and processed all of my property, giving me a pencil (this pen was actually left in a book.), one book, TV guide, Bible, legal materials, writing materials and new clothing and bedding (two towels, one washcloth, two sheets, pillow case, two blankets, pillow, mattress, boxers, t-shirt, socks and a jump suit. Oh, and a new pair of flip flops and orange deck shoes.
Just as they were finished doing that it was just about 9:00 a.m., and they took me to my visit with Dr. Stewart, our expert, where I really felt a bit restricted at times as the officer stayed right outside the door.
At noon, when my visit was over, they took me back to medical where the nurse went over my daily meds with me, and how the meds, which have been coming to me in monthly supply packs for 15 years or so are somehow now so dangerous that the nurse has to bring them every morning on a “watch swallow basis.”
They brought me back to my cell where I tried to lay down. It felt like I had just closed my eyes when I was awakened by a bunch of voices. Opening my eyes, I see that the correctional officer, assistant deputy warden and deputy warden were in the pod talking to the watch officers and Bob Moormann. After a few moments, the assistant deputy warden came to my cell and said, “We are going to try to get some of your requests answered by tomorrow, and then we will re-assess in a week or so.” Sooo, hopefully I will get some of my requested items tomorrow, such as my photos, radio, heating pad and commissary.
Oh; a few notes about the cell: They have a TV pushed in front of the cell, so looking through the holes is difficult at best, and nauseating/vertigo inducing to the point where I really just want to listen to it; but there is a problem there. The ear bud extensions they stuck through hole barely reaches to the table, a good five or six feet short of the bunk. Can they seriously say this is not intentional to cause frustration? Especially when the simplest fix would be to let have my personal headphones (which have a much longer cord) and/or my personal ear bud extension, which would allow me to reach the bed. Solutions seem so simple, yet most likely unattainable.
The next thing of note is that the lieutenant has to give me my food. Again, so weird.
The same officers who have been feeding me for 20 years are now somehow incapable of doing such a simple task . . .
It’s about 9:00 p.m. now, and I doubt anything else will happen tonight so I will sign off now. I look forward to our next call. Take care everyone and may God bless!
March 7
Hey now! I hope this, my last log finds you doing great! As for myself? Well, things are about as I imagined. They showed up at about 10:20 p.m. to strip me out. They did the whole naked dance and the squat and cough. Then they gave me a pair of boxers and a pair of deck shoes. I was grabbed on both sides, firmly, but not roughly. I was taken to the boss chair, and from there I was taken to a day cell, given a pair of socks, t-shirt, and a pair of pants with A BUTTON + ZIPPER!! Woo-hoo!!
Anywho, I was then put in a belly chain, shackles and then led out to a waiting van. Again, I went nowhere without hands on me. Even when they were putting the cuffs on, someone was holding my arm. We rode over here. Nice ride, and they kept up the small talk. It was cool watching one of the COs with what I assume was an iPhone.
Once arriving here, they ushered me in. All the while they are telling me they will be respectful and ask that I be. The warden warned me about my final words. I've been told that I should think about my statement and that he will (or someone will) rehearse it with me in the morning.