No Last Laugh for Killer

Con drops the jokes and tells witnesses instead: 'I deserve this'
By Dustin Lushing,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 27, 2007 4:53 AM CDT
No Last Laugh for Killer
This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows death row inmate Patrick Knight who is scheduled for execution at the Texas prison in Huntsville, Tuesday, July 26, 2007. Knight, 39, convicted of the fatal shooting of his neighbors almost 16 years ago outside Amarillo, has...   (Associated Press)

Condemned killer Patrick Knight backed off on his boast that he'd tell a joke before execution, even after receiving over 1300 suggestions for one-liners through mail and a web site. Knight was executed late yesterday for murdering a married couple who lived in the trailer next to his just outside Amarillo.

Knight collected 20 jokes a day, which he said he used to lift the spirits of inmates. But instead of cracking wise at the end, Knight thanked God for friends and asked for help for innocent prisoners. "I said I was going to tell a joke," he said. "Death has set me free. That's the biggest joke. I deserve this." (More death penalty stories.)

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