“Cowboy up. I’m fixin’ to ride, and Jesus is my vehicle.”

February 21st, 2013

The final words spoken by Carl Blue, before he was executed tonight in Huntsville, Texas. In 1994, he doused his girlfriend with gasoline and set her on fire (he purchased 50 cents worth of gasoline and poured it in a Big Fulp cup).

In his final statement, Blue greeted his victim’s daughter, Terrella Richards, as she entered the death chamber viewing area by telling her he loved her.

“I never meant to hurt your mama,” Blue said while strapped to a gurney. “If I could change that, I would. … I hope you can forgive me.”

He then told his parents, watching from an adjacent room, that he loved them and acknowledged he had done something wrong. He said he was “paying the ultimate justice. … It may be crooked justice but I forgive those people.”

He later added: “Cowboy up. I’m fixin’ to ride, and Jesus is my vehicle.”

Blue took about a dozen breaths as the lethal drug began taking effect. He said he could “feel it,” then slipped into unconsciousness before being pronounced dead at 6:56 p.m.