Gallow’s humor, literally; Patrick Knight’s last joke is on him
Here’s a good way to break up the mood at those somber execution vigils:
Patrick Knight, 39, has been soliciting jokes on the Internet and plans to tell one of them before receiving a lethal injection, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said on Monday.
“He says he wants to keep his execution light,” she said.
Knight was sentenced to die for the August 1991 murder of his two elderly neighbors in Amarillo, Texas.
Lyons said a friend of Knight’s set up a page on the social networking Web site MySpace.com to solicit jokes, and “hundreds” of suggestions have arrived in the mail.
“I’ll be enjoying my last days on Earth,” Knight wrote on the Web site. “I’m not asking for pen pals, but I’m asking you to spread the word that I am holding a contest. I want people to send me their best jokes, and to keep me and others with (execution) dates laughing.”
Knight was not the first person to go out with a laugh. In fact he said he got the idea for a joke as his last statement after a friend, Vincent Gutierrez, was executed earlier this year and laughed from the death chamber gurney: “Where’s a stunt double when you need one?”
Knight has gotten over 250 submissions but here’s one more from us:
Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Dead.
Dead who?
You!
For those of you against the death penalty you are no doubt against his execution. Probably on grounds that:
-
1. He might be innocent. (Sorry, in his words: “I know I’m not innocent.”)
2. It’s racially biased. (Nope, he’s white.)
3. It’s cruel. (Well I respect, though don’t agree, with that opinion).
One thing I do disagree with is how the anti-death penalty crusaders treat these guys (such as putting Tookie up) on a pedestal. Knight’s MySpace page is filled with statements like “You’ll be missed,” “You’ll be in our hearts forever,” etc. I understand the virtue of forgiveness but there is a big difference between “I forgive you for killing your neighbors in cold blood” and treating the guy like your best friend.
Here’s a little background on the person “who will be in their hearts forever.”
Knight was sentenced to death for the fatal shootings of Walter Werner, 58, and his wife, Mary Ann, 56. Knight lived in a trailer next door to the couple’s home just outside Amarillo.
When the Werners arrived home Aug. 26, 1991, they found Knight and a friend, Robert Bradfield, waiting inside for them. The two men held the couple captive in their basement through the next day, then bound, gagged and blindfolded them. They drove the victims several miles away and shot each in the head.
At the time of the slayings, Knight said, he was immature and drunk and high on drugs. He said he does not remember much about killing the Werners, who had complained about his loud music and loud cars.
Okay, enough suspense, the execution happened yesterday and here are Knight’s last words:
“I said I was going to tell a joke. Death has set me free. That’s the biggest joke. I deserve this.”
“And the other joke is that I am not Patrick Bryan Knight and y’all can’t stop this execution now. Go ahead, I’m finished.”
Johnny Carson he’s not but I’ll give him credit. Given the fact that he had only one take, that’s not too bad.
tags: 
patrick knight 
death penalty
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June 30th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
ok , i would like topost something here. first he was my best friend. and if instead of the fragmented version of his final words ,you would read the whole thing you would know who i am. i am getting heartsick at bloggers taking 1/10 of his statement and missing the entire point. youpeople can see only the bad in others and for that i am sorry for you. patrick used the media to draw attention to his friends innocense claims, that was they joke. i know it must disappoint you that the cold blooded killer illustrated love and concern for other people but that happened. and you disecting his statement and mocking him makes you look like the bad person. you see the hypocricy in you saying he was “cold blooded” when you are the one mocking someone who is dead. you say he had no right to tell a joke because it is morally dis respectful to the victims. well then what gives you the right to make jokes out of him?
June 30th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
ok , i would like to post something here. first he was my best friend. and if instead of the fragmented version of his final words ,you would read the whole thing you would know who i am. i am getting heartsick at bloggers taking 1/10 of his statement and missing the entire point. youpeople can see only the bad in others and for that i am sorry for you. patrick used the media to draw attention to his friends innocense claims, that was they joke. i know it must disappoint you that the cold blooded killer illustrated love and concern for other people but that happened. and you disecting his statement and mocking him makes you look like the bad person. you see the hypocricy in you saying he was “cold blooded” when you are the one mocking someone who is dead. you say he had no right to tell a joke because it is morally dis respectful to the victims. well then what gives you the right to make jokes out of him?
July 1st, 2007 at 9:34 am
Melyssa you are so right. Yes, he admitted he did something wrong. He did not lie about that or claim he was innocent. HE KNEW what he did was flat out wrong. He was also very young and would not repeat it at his age he was before being murdered by Texas… Let me ask you.. When your child see’s on TV that someone was murdered. How do you explain to your little child, you are going to show the accused that what he did is wrong, by killing him too?? How is that punishment? He was ready to go, he was glad to go. He wanted to be released from solitary confinement! Patrick, like alot of these men and woman on death row, are NOT monsters. Hell, some are on the row for being in prison on a little charge and then getting JUMPED by alot of men in prison and defending himself someone died. That is ok? To defend yourself and get murdered for it? Patrick Knight stood for alot of things, he was a great person and he did was no other Anti DP person or inmate has ever done. Shed light on the bullcrap that goes on in those places, especially Texas. You will all now read about the others in his last statement. So therefore he has done well for his friends. He was NOT a monster and like his loved one above stated…. How is it morally disrespectful for him to make jokes but its Ok for you/?? Before you preach bull you need to become a little bit less ignorant and read about what he stood for, regardless of his past. Have respect for the victims and Patrick by leaving it alone….
July 1st, 2007 at 10:11 am
“Patrick Knight stood for alot of things, he was a great person…”
This is where we disagree. “Great people” don’t kidnap and then murder innocent people. I’m glad he felt bad about it in the end but that really doesn’t make him great in my book any more than Tookie Williams is “great” for killing four people and then penning children’s books.
If he stood for anything it’s that the judge and jury got it right on him. He was guilty and that’s how they found him.The right/wrong of a death penalty is another conversation. But he made his choice, something his victims didn’t have, and his time came.
As far as being a target for a joke, I think condemned killers make a pretty fair target. And please don’t tell me to have respect for the victims while calling their assassin “great.” You want to idolize a killer then go ahead, but don’t do it in the name of the victims.
This reminds me of the same conversations I was having with the fans of Scott Peterson. I don’t know what it is about killers that gets some people to idolize them so.
July 2nd, 2007 at 3:29 am
Patrick Knight made mistakes in his life that he deeply regretted. That makes him human not a monster. People make mistakes, do things they regret, and destroy their lives and the lives of others on a daily basis. Patrick’s crime was horrible and he paid with his life. A fact that he accepted and never tried to deny. His joke was a bigger picture than most people will ever see…. He got the attention of the media and people all over the world, everyone was so attracted to hearing the joke, or slamming him for telling a joke. He took that and used it to help his friends. To help bring attention to people that need help. He knew exactly what he was doing, and it worked… Hell he got your attention didn’t he.. you wrote up this blog.. hmmmmm
rest in peace patrick
July 2nd, 2007 at 5:00 am
Re-read my post. I never call him a “monster.” Just a killer finally serving his sentence–two facts that I believe we agree. But I take exception at calling him or anyone else like him (“a great person”) as one of the commenters did above.
I do agree that his actions drew attention, and I actually liked his line “And the other joke is that I am not Patrick Bryan Knight and y’all can’t stop this execution now.” I think that’s pretty good under the circumstances.
That said, I’m not particularly moved about his comments that some of those guys are innocent. Rare is the inmate that doesn’t. Even Tookie and his followers claimed his innocence even though he had previously bragged about the “gurgling” sound his victims made after he shot them in the back.