A 78-year-old death row inmate said he was remorseful and 'ready to go' hours before he was put to death in a US state execution.
The world's oldest death row inmate was killed by lethal injection at a prison in Texas after he murdered a police officer decades ago.
Carl Wayne Buntion, 78, killed police officer James Irby in 1990 and was sentenced to execution, spending three decades waiting on death row amid several unsuccessful appeals.
Lawyers for Buntion had tried unsuccessfully to stop his date with a lethal injection by arguing the punishment was “cruel and unusual”.
Despite those pleas he was executed at about 7pm local time on Thursday night at a prison in Texas.
In a final statement shared by local media reporters he said he had remorse for the killing and wrote: "I am ready to go."
The statement reads in full:
"Ok to start with I would like to thank everyone that has stayed; Karen, Linda, Barry, Danny, Barbra, God bless each and every one of you.
"I have a message to the Irby family. The shootout occurred on June 27, 1990. One week later a police officer on his day off named Michael Garrett showed up to my cell.
"He was wearing civilian clothes. I thought he was a chaplain. He came to the back where it is a super seg. The guys there began to ridicule him because the officer brought me a small Bible.
"He said boy, do you know that you just hit a brick wall? I am a deputy Sheriff. He asked me have you ever been to church. Have you heard of Jesus Christ?
"I said yes, he then gave me a small Bible which I call a Gideon Bible and read from Romans. The deputy said get right with God.
"The deputy's buddies, five or six guys standing in the hallway where making fun of him and the deputy said don't listen to them, listen to my voice. That was July 4, 1990.
"I wanted the Irby family to know one thing. I do have remorse for what I did.
"Ms. Irby, the little one-year-old girl, I can't remember her name, Cody was three and she was one when I took their father's life away.
“I pray to God that they get the closure for me killing their father and Ms. Irby’s husband.
“I hope to see you in heaven someday and when you show up I will give you a big hug.
“To all of my friends that stuck with me through all of these years I am not going to say goodbye just saying so long. I am ready to go.”
