Texas Inmate Seeks Jokes for Last Words

[pumpkinpie]

Texas Inmate Seeks Jokes for Last Words
By MICHAEL GRACZYK
Associated Press Writer

A condemned inmate wants to leave them laughing.

Patrick Knight is collecting jokes and will pick the funniest one for his last statement before he is set to die June 26 for shooting his neighbors, Walter and Mary Werner, to death almost 16 years ago outside Amarillo.

Randall County Sheriff Joel Richardson thinks the whole idea is insensitive. "This tells you a little bit about the guy's character, anyway," said Richardson, who was chief deputy at the time of the Werners' killings and plans to witness Knight's execution.

Richardson said that the Werners' son, who has since moved out of Texas, has said he won't speak about the case anymore.

"They don't want to draw any more attention to this guy than is possible," Richardson said.

Knight acknowledges there's nothing funny about his execution.

"I'm not trying to disrespect the Werners or anything like that," he told The Associated Press from death row. "I'm not trying to say I don't care what's going on. I'm about to die. I'm not going to sit here and whine and cry and moan and everything like that when I'm facing the punishment I've been given.

"I'm not asking for money. I'm not asking for pen pals or anything like that. All I'm asking for is jokes," Knight said.

He's had about 250 wisecracks mailed to him on death row or e-mailed to a friend who has a Web site for him.

"Lawyer jokes are real popular," he said. "Some of them are a little on the edge. I'm not going to use any profanity if I can find the one I want, or any vulgar content. It wouldn't be bad if it was a little bit on the edge. That would be cool."

Knight, 39, would be the last of five condemned inmates set to die over three weeks this month in Texas, the nations's most active state in carrying out capital punishment.

Fourteen executions already have happened in Texas this year and if all five take place in June, the pace will be just shy of the record of 40 executions set in 2000. At least 10 other inmates already have execution dates set for the second half of the year.

Knight 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?"

"I know I'm not innocent," said Knight, who believes his appeals have been exhausted. "They think they're killing me. They think they're punishing me. They've already punished me. I've already had 16 years of punishment. They're releasing me. They're letting me go. That's helping me out. That's the way I look at it."

[pumpkinpie]

I think that last sentence kind of says it all, when he speaks of his 16 years in prison as punishment and says him being executed is releasing him from his punishment, letting him go, even helping him out.
I found this article somewhat amusing because this inmate seems to have a unique, and funny personality, and way of looking at things. Why not laugh your way to the end of your life right?! Can you blame him? If you only had a few weeks left to live, wouldn't you try to laugh as much as you could, smile, seek humor? I would... I hope he gets over-loaded, and over-joyed with the funniest jokes ever for his final 3 weeks in this life...

[bettyJ]

Hello
thank you for understanding a little of Brians nature. ( I have known him for years now and began our friendship by calling him Brian) he is a guy that makes a joke of a lot of things. never at anyone, no. just trying to see the funny up side all he can. I used to visit him years ago and he could be very serious and never insensitive if you needed 'listening to' as we all do at some point or another. he has never denied his guilt but it was never the focus of converstion. he took it for granted you knew why he was there. he can be a very sensitive and caring man. he has a deep faith in God and is immediatly concerned if you have a problem. I have always seen him try to uplift. his 'jokes' were never rude or crude but instead designed to bring a smile. frankly he seems much more caring and normal than some people out here. maybe because he knows what pain is and also he is a man who has made peace with God and himself. he cannot change the past but the present he chooses not to make sad and dearier than it already is. always a polite inquiry about how things are with you and then a smile and comment. frankly I always found him a caring and mannerly man. no crude jokes at all. but a smile and funny comment? yes. that is Brian. if he should go to those walls he will not be making fun of anyone and especially anyone he caused pain. just his choice to be pleasent and have the last memory of him be good. he is not a clown. but an honest and strong man. suffering can and often does bring out the best in a person, and it certainly has in 'Patrick' Knight. I am better for knowing him and he has always made those around him feel better. especially me.
thanks
Betty Matthews Sterling

[alba]

bettyj said:

Hello
thank you for understanding a little of Brians nature. ( I have known him for years now and began our friendship by calling him Brian) he is a guy that makes a joke of a lot of things. never at anyone, no. just trying to see the funny up side all he can. I used to visit him years ago and he could be very serious and never insensitive if you needed 'listening to' as we all do at some point or another. he has never denied his guilt but it was never the focus of conversation. he took it for granted you knew why he was there. he can be a very sensitive and caring man. he has a deep faith in God and is immediately concerned if you have a problem. I have always seen him try to uplift. his 'jokes' were never rude or crude but instead designed to bring a smile. frankly he seems much more caring and normal than some people out here. maybe because he knows what pain is and also he is a man who has made peace with God and himself. he cannot change the past but the present he chooses not to make sad and drearier than it already is. always a polite inquiry about how things are with you and then a smile and comment. frankly I always found him a caring and mannerly man. no crude jokes at all. but a smile and funny comment? yes. that is Brian. if he should go to those walls he will not be making fun of anyone and especially anyone he caused pain. just his choice to be pleasant and have the last memory of him be good. he is not a clown. but an honest and strong man. suffering can and often does bring out the best in a person, and it certainly has in 'Patrick' Knight. I am better for knowing him and he has always made those around him feel better. especially me.
thanks
Betty Matthews Sterling

Thanks Betty J for a lovely insightful post regards Patrick Knight's decision to go out laughing ... I say why not ? ... as long as he's not saying anything hurtful or disrespectful ... then his last words should be his choice ... were he to apologise, he'd be called a liar ... if he said a prayer he'd be called for that too ... so, in a no win situation, good on him wanting to die with a smile on his face

[bettyJ]

Thanks Alba
I felt your heart and wisdom in your words.
knowing Bryan ( patrick) he would be pleased to be understood about it also. he is not one to seek the approval of others but he has a kind heart and enjoys knowing that someone does 'get it'..what he does finally will be up to him. one thing I know about him is, IF he decides to change his mind he will and will feel its no big deal to anyone but himself. after all, all any of us have is our selves anyway to live with. I always pray for a stay. and I will this time. if the answer comes back no? I will rejoice with him that he is home at last and free. yes.
bettyj

[pumpkinpie]

bettyj said:

Thanks Alba
I felt your heart and wisdom in your words.
knowing Bryan ( patrick) he would be pleased to be understood about it also. he is not one to seek the approval of others but he has a kind heart and enjoys knowing that someone does 'get it'..what he does finally will be up to him. one thing I know about him is, IF he decides to change his mind he will and will feel its no big deal to anyone but himself. after all, all any of us have is our selves anyway to live with. I always pray for a stay. and I will this time. if the answer comes back no? I will rejoice with him that he is home at last and free. yes.
bettyj

Oh my gosh, you know this man that I put this article up about? I got the impression from the article that he's had to live with what he's done every day that he's been in that prison, and that jokes are what he loves, and what has kept him going. I think it's great that you've been his friend!
Tell him about CCADP, and that he's got lots of support here... Tell him "pumpkinpie" loves a man with a great sense of humor, and give him this from me!
Keep us posted Betty on all that happens with him, and hang in there.

[bettyJ]

I will print this all off and send it to him. I have been away from DR the last year or so because of ill health. I do write my friends there because I love and miss them and have visited. I moved to Huntsville years ago to be there everyday but cant now. i still go to prisons near me ( and Texas has a lot of them)
Patrick will be so pleased to know others are thinking of him. he is the least demanding man inside there. a very different personality that would do so well with a second chance. it breaks my heart and it was 'cracked ' many times over these years. some could never handle out here but none need killing as the answer. and Parick Bryan Knight is one that would add to us all and not take away. I remember outside that death chamber one night, after being inside a cell and saying goodby to a friend and praying with him, I stood on those steps and felt my heart so sad and prayed 'have a heart Texas' and I love this State but that prayer is still in my heart today. please Lord change the 'heart' of Texas' .
thank you for caring for us.
betty j

[pumpkinpie]

I just now read that Bryan Patrick Knight was executed. I think it was yesterday, right? I'm really sorry Betty, for your loss. I would have posted and said something sooner, but I've been out of town for the last couple of days. That was really nice of you to print this up and send it to him! Hopefully it gave him some peace and a smile.

"Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend. Somewhere along in the bitterness...
And I would have stayed up with you all night, had I known how to save a life." -The Fray

www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-06-26-texas-execution_N.htm?csp=34

[bettyJ]

Thank you for caring. His spiritual advisor called me as she waited to be called to go over to the Walls for his last visit before the execution. he did get the print outs of all we said and she said was so pleased. she told me he had written me. I will share what i can of it if I am able to. but he was cheered up with the comments made about him. as you see from his last wordss his thoughts were of others . ( the newspaper accounts left out part of it but go to the Texas official site) he actually named names of those he considered innocent.
thank you all who saw him as a human being even if fawed. aren we all in some way? thank God for forgivness. I know the hardest thing for those I know out there is to know lives have been ruined because of their acts. a hard load to live with and cant change.
God bless you for your kindness.
bettyj

[dee]

Hello, I came across this message board today. I think I have been here in the past, but had to re-register. I am Dee, from The Abolishment Movement. I maintained Patrick's "Dead Man Laughing" site. I guess I'll leave it up as a memorial to him.
He brought awareness to the death penalty in 26 days. There were over 30,000 page view, and thousands of jokes.
May he rest in peace.
Dee

[bettyJ]

Thank you dee and all who didnt reply with bitternes but some laughter . he actually read those things out to those on DR as you probably know . all who can still smile , to me, shows the life in them that burns eternal. its easy for those " not so guilty of taking life" to smile but to those who can smile i spite of it? to me its a sign of the created being inside and the Creator. He forgives. Patrick was a wonderful example of that. his problem if he had one, was self forgiveness. well now he is def. at peace. and may he rest there forgiven. as he certainly was.
betty

[dee]

Remembering Patrick B. Knight

Dead Man Laughing

By Doreen (Dee) Hawk

I first met Patrick, Bryan as some called him back in January of 2007. The Polunsky unit, "Death Camp" in Huntsville Texas had gone on a hunger strike to protest the deplorable conditions. Well, out of the hundreds of inmates on death row, only a handful had participated, and sure enough Patrick was one of them. Actually he endured right to the very end, and was the last remaining striker.

I got a list of participants from one of the other strikers asking me to drop them a line and "show support of the cause," and so I did. This would be the beginning of a friendship, that I would never forget. Patrick became a member of The Abolishment Movement, my online educational death penalty forum. We corresponded occasionally, his letters always a pleasure to read, funny and light, and always concerned about the others.

Not to long after that I heard that Patrick got an execution date. Here we go again, I thought, because if anyone knows about the Texas "death camp," not too many people get out of there alive, guilty or innocent. I got a letter in the mail from Patrick, and in his own words "I'll be enjoying my last days on this earth. I'm not asking for any pen pals but I am asking you to spread the word that I am holding a contest. I want people to send me their best jokes, to keep me and the others with dates, laughing!" The best joke, which will be determined by the inmates on death watch and will be recited in Patrick's "Last Statement." Hopefully The Houston Chronicle and other media will print it. Instead of "Dead Man Walking" I'll will be "Dead Man Laughing."

Well, to be honest, at first I was a little turned off by the thought of making a joke out of the death penalty, but soon realized how he was feeling about all this, and decided to go along with it. I put up the Myspace page for him and named it "Dead Man Laughing." myspace.com/prisonuprise The only picture I had of Patrick was the TDCJ mug shot, which I hated, so I used a prison art piece. I soon got ahold of another picture from Debbie, another one of his pen-pals, supporters. And that would be the face the whole world would soon come to know.

I waited until June 1st, and published a sort of, press release on Associated Content. readthisurl.com/patrick. The media soon picked up on this. One day the phone rang and it was Maro Robbins, a staff reporter from Texas. Somehow he tracked me down. He wanted to know if the Dead Man Laughing page was a joke or if this was for real. "It's for real all right" I told him. He asked a few questions, and the conversation was over. The next day he printed the story, and called it "Gallows Humor." From there, it spread throughout the world. Dead Man Laughing was on TV, the radio, in newspapers everywhere. People were flocking to the Myspace and adding on as friends. Jokes were being posted, and many people were leaving messages.

Patrick was receiving jokes at the prison, and he was being interviewed. Neither him or I ever thought this would go this far, and be so popular. All he wanted was a few jokes to break the tension at the prison. A few jokes to read to the others and make them laugh. Now some people thought he was disrespecting the victims in his case, Mr. and Mrs. Werner. But in all honesty he repeatedly said he was not. He didn't know this was going to be on all types of media throughout the world. He thought he would receive a few jokes from the people in the "prison groups." If the media didn't make such a big deal out of this, there would have been no questions about disrespect. After all, if they had even for a second thought it was disrespectful. then why did they air it? Yeah, money! And till this day, I still don't think Patrick realized how BIG it was. Locked down like an animal in a cage, he had no access to the media to see for himself.

One day I "googled" Patrick B. Knight to see what would come up, and pages, upon pages of articles came up. The saddest thing I read was when he was a little boy, about 4 or 5, he was found on the bottom of a swimming pool with his tricycle on top of him. Geesh, he must have rode the bike into the pool. He had seizures for a year after that. He was from a dysfunctional family all right, or so they said he was. And when he got arrested for the crime he was executed for, his Mom and grandmom reportedly didn't want anything to do with him, and left Texas. He spoke of a daughter often, but I had never met her. I think the only other family he had for 16 long years were the friends around him, and those who wrote and visited him. The ones he loved and cared about.

When the day came for him to be executed, and he was on the gurney, the media wanted that "winning joke." Oh yes, he was accused of being disrespectful to the victims, but the media still wanted the "winning joke." He didn't deliver. And good for him! He chose his last minuets on this earth to say good-bye to the ones he loved, and to speak about his fellow comrades, the ones who need help on death row. The joke contest was all in fun, but the fun was over, and soon he would be too. The media can tell us about his voice breaking up, and sure it was, that was the sound of love. Not fear! They can tell us he was almost in tears, and that was his heart overbursting with compassion. How disappointed they were when there was no joke. As if he was the only death row inmate who was emotional on the gurney, they twisted it around to look like it was something it's not. How disrespectful!

I'll end this with a little poem by Patrick B. Knight, This is his humor, let this suffice as his last joke

Fuzzy Bunny or "Elmer's Childhood"

Little tiny bunny
So cuddly and sweet
You evil little varmit
Where's my Easter treat

Hiding all your candy
Stashing it to and fro
So I get all my clothes dirty
And nearly break my toe

Oh you devious little monster
I've begun to dread Easter Day
I'm going to catch you little bunny
And then your gonna pay

You long eared pesky rodent
This year I won't let you pass
All that chocolate made me break out
And I'm allergic to plastic grass

Who would really stop to think
You'd hide things way up in that tree
I fell from 20 feet above
Nearly breaking every bone inside of me

Man, am I ever gonna get you
I'd bet you hide stuff on the sun
Your days are numbered little bunny
I hate you and I'm not the only one

You got away again this year
You slipped by me, Dog Nabbit
But I'll eat you next year
You waskily freakin wabbit
(all rights reserved on this poem)

R.I.P. my friend!













--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[bettyJ]

Dee
what words from you. and 'they' say people on death row are below human. wow.
can anyone but a friend know what a friend is? thank you dear heart for being a friend. I am sure he knows and is smiling. I did. cried too. but smiled.
Betty J