On September 2, 2002, 18-year-old Richard Cobb abducted two women and a man from a store in Rusk, Texas during an armed robbery. Cobb took the three to an East Texas field about 10 miles away where he raped one of the women and then shot all three with a 20-gauge shotgun and left them to die. Cobb, a drug addict who was already on probation for auto theft, did not realize that one of the women was still alive and would thereafter survive to testify against him. He was convicted of capital murder.
On April 30, 2013, moments before his execution, Cobb was given the opportunity to make his last statement. He spoke with mocking conviction:
“Life is death, death is life. I hope that someday this absurdity that humanity has come to will come to an end. Life is too short. I hope anyone that has negative energy towards me will resolve that. Life is too short to harbor feelings of hatred and anger. That’s it, warden.”
Only that wasn’t it.
Moments before the lethal injection took effect, Cobb raised his head off the pillow and twisted around to face the warden who was standing behind him, and spoke these shocking words:
“Wow! That is great. That is awesome! Thank you, warden! Thank you fucking warden!”
After which his head fell back onto the pillow, his neck twisted at an odd angle, with mouth and eyes wide open, Cobb breathed his last breath and died.
Nikki Daniels, 29, who was raped and shot during the 2002 attack but survived to testify against Cobb, said,
“I thought he was going to be remorseful, I thought he was going to be apologetic, was hoping that he was going to address me. I saw the same evil person I saw 11 years ago. … He definitely showed his true colors.”
