Nevada Executes Double Murderer

Double murderer Sean P. Flanagan was put to death at the Nevada State Prison on Friday, and his final words were those of love for his prosecutor.

As five guards strapped Flanagan, 28, to a gurney in the death chamber at the prison, the condemned man smiled and told prosecutor Dan Seaton, “I love you.”

“He has said it before,” Seaton said. “He means it in terms of Christian love and forgiveness.”

Flanagan was executed for two 1987 killings in Las Vegas after Gov. Robert Miller rejected a last-minute petition for a stay from the American Civil Liberties Union.

In a seven-page statement, Flanagan had revealed that he hated his homosexuality. He said it was difficult for him to determine what made him kill men he thought were homosexual, but “the thought that I would be doing some good for our society crossed my mind.”

Flanagan confessed to the two murders after he was arrested in Orange, Calif., for jaywalking. He said he strangled and dismembered 45-year-old chef James Lewandowski, who had befriended him after he lost all his money drinking and gambling. Four days later, he said, he strangled pianist Albert Duggins, 59, after Duggins offered him a ride.

Flanagan, who spent his last hours reading the Bible, was declared dead eight minutes after the lethal injection began at 2:01 a.m.

“I think he believes he is a Christian, but from God’s perception, no,” said Seaton, the deputy Clark County district attorney. “I’m sure he’d kill again.”

It was the second execution in five days in Nevada, and the state’s fourth and the nation’s 114th since the 1976 U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing states to resume use of the death penalty.

Gov. Miller, in saying he would not intervene to halt the execution, said that Flanagan had appeals available if he wanted to use them.

Flanagan told the Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that he would not pursue appeals because he had to pay his debt to society. But he maintained, “After giving my life to Jesus, I couldn’t hurt anybody again.”

Flanagan apologized to the families of his victims and said, “I hope they’ll understand my execution is proper and just.”