Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ. We
Speaker 1: are used to sometimes getting a final sentence, a few
Speaker 1: final words from inmates as they are about to be executed,
Speaker 1: but yesterday we got apologies, apologies, apologies, paragraphs truly of
Speaker 1: one inmates' final words. Fifty one year old Cedric Rix,
Speaker 1: who was pronounced dead last night just before seven pm,
Speaker 1: wanted to make his amends before he died by the
Speaker 1: lethal injection without everyone. Welcome to this episode. It is Thursday,
Speaker 1: March twelfth, and we have covered a lot of executions
Speaker 1: Babe over this past year because there just frankly, have
Speaker 1: been so many. Each one is unique and each one
Speaker 1: I feel like there is a takeaway. But this one
Speaker 1: was especially compelling.
Speaker 2: H This is when we wanted to skip over, to
Speaker 2: be honest with you. We cover a lot of these
Speaker 2: and some of them have intriguing stories that come up
Speaker 2: about the person condemned, person's guilt or innocence. There are
Speaker 2: questions even if it's not about the guilt or innocence.
Speaker 2: Sometimes robes of question is just about if they got
Speaker 2: a fair trial, or their mental capacity, or should you
Speaker 2: be executing someone this old or this sick? There's usually
Speaker 2: some kind of humanitarian effort that is a tie to
Speaker 2: these executions that sometimes make for compelling stories behind the scenes.
Speaker 2: This is not one where people were rallying support around
Speaker 2: him because of hey he needs a break, or hey
Speaker 2: he was coerced, or hey it was something don't know.
Speaker 2: This was a heinous, heinous, horrible crime. To the point
Speaker 2: we were almost gonna just bypasses and like this is
Speaker 2: a tough one. We'll just say there was an execution
Speaker 2: and move on. But turns out this is now one
Speaker 2: of the more compelling moments we have seen in the
Speaker 2: past year of covering what was an extraordinary year of
Speaker 2: executions in the US.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you never know what to expect. I think that
Speaker 1: is a lesson too. You think you understand the way
Speaker 1: something's going to go or how someone's going to react,
Speaker 1: and then they surprise you. And that is exactly what
Speaker 1: happened last night. Yes, fifty one year old Cedric Rix.
Speaker 1: He was executed yesterday for the May twenty thirteen killings
Speaker 1: and I say killings, but brutal stabbings of his girlfriend
Speaker 1: and her eight year old son. We're talking about thirty
Speaker 1: year old Roxanne Sanchez and eight year old Anthony and
Speaker 1: Roxanne's other son. And this is of note. He was
Speaker 1: twelve years old at the time. His name is Marcus.
Speaker 1: He survived. He was also stabbed. He was stabbed this
Speaker 1: is unthinkable, twenty five times in the back of his head,
Speaker 1: and he survived by playing dead. And him surviving helped
Speaker 1: put Cedric Rix behind bars.
Speaker 2: And that young man, that boy was in the room
Speaker 2: last night as a grown man now, but he was
Speaker 2: there to watch this man be executed. And he was
Speaker 2: there and he received don't know if he expected it
Speaker 2: or not, but he received a direct message from Cedric
Speaker 2: Gregs last night. Look, this was this was extraordinary. There
Speaker 2: are two things that if you have no idea of
Speaker 2: what the crime was about, or the execution or the
Speaker 2: legal wranglings that got to this point. Most people wrote
Speaker 2: they hear an execution, they ask usually two things, maybe three.
Speaker 2: They might ask how was the person executed? But they'll
Speaker 2: ask what was the last meal? And what were their
Speaker 2: last words?
Speaker 1: Yeah, and a lot of times, well we usually can
Speaker 1: well we can always tell you why they're being executed.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we know their last meals. And most of the time,
Speaker 1: I would say, at least the ones we've covered, there
Speaker 1: usually aren't last words. Final words are actually fairly rare.
Speaker 1: I don't know what the percentage.
Speaker 2: Is even when they have them. I don't the percentage
Speaker 2: percentage would even be lower of how many times that
Speaker 2: person uses their last words to actually apologize, make amends,
Speaker 2: ask for forgiveness, that's even a lower percentage. He had
Speaker 2: something on his heart, his mind, and this was his
Speaker 2: last chance to say, and he took it.
Speaker 1: It's so true, because the truth is most people who
Speaker 1: are executed that we can recall, and certainly I think
Speaker 1: this is anecdotal. I don't have the numbers on it.
Speaker 1: But not only are they not apologizing for what they've
Speaker 1: been convicted of and what they're about to be executed
Speaker 1: for a lot of the times they're denying it, they're
Speaker 1: denying the crime. They go to their death saying wasn't me.
Speaker 1: So to have the ownership of the crime is one thing,
Speaker 1: but then to apologize for it is a whole other level.
Speaker 1: And this apology, I've never seen one quite like this.
Speaker 1: He directly aimed it at that now twenty five year
Speaker 1: old young man who he thought he had killed that evening.
Speaker 2: I mean, good on him for doing so. I mean
Speaker 2: I we haven't heard the reaction yet from the young man,
Speaker 2: but we have heard from families prior and other executions
Speaker 2: who do get messages from that condemned person right before
Speaker 2: they die, and we have heard some of those families
Speaker 2: report that those were very important words for them to hear.
Speaker 1: Yes, and we're going to give you what Rick's final
Speaker 1: words were. But I wanted to just for those of
Speaker 1: you who don't know the crime, and just to understand
Speaker 1: where Marcus, this twenty five year old now sitting watching
Speaker 1: his mother's former boyfriend about to die, what he lived through,
Speaker 1: because what he was convicted of is horrific. So we
Speaker 1: know that Cedric Rix, and he's admitted to this now,
Speaker 1: began fighting with his girlfriend. He had a history of
Speaker 1: domestic violence. He had a history of problems not only
Speaker 1: with his girlfriends but with their children. So they started fighting,
Speaker 1: and the boys who were eight and twelve jumped in
Speaker 1: to try and save their mom, to try and stop
Speaker 1: Cedric from he was punching her. That's when he went
Speaker 1: into the kitchen, got a knife and began to stay
Speaker 1: Roxane and Anthony and Marcus was able to run to
Speaker 1: a bedroom closet, but he went to go find him
Speaker 1: to finish the job, and Marcus even testified in court
Speaker 1: I cannot even imagine this, saying that he heard the
Speaker 1: sounds that his eight year old brother made and he
Speaker 1: imitated them to basically pretend like he was dying, and
Speaker 1: that he died, and that then and only then did
Speaker 1: Cedric let up. He actually took a shower. There was
Speaker 1: a nine month old son in the home as well.
Speaker 1: He put him in the crib and then took off
Speaker 1: to Oklahoma, where police later arrested him. But that's the
Speaker 1: crime we're talking about.
Speaker 2: And that's why we were saying. This was one that
Speaker 2: we were frankly, we were willing to let go. We
Speaker 2: will pass over this one. Yes, there's still death penalty
Speaker 2: opponents who are out there saying no execution should take place,
Speaker 2: but there was no sympathy necessarily for this man or
Speaker 2: this crime when you hear about it. So really we said, okay,
Speaker 2: well we will let this one pass and there will
Speaker 2: be plenty more. But then turns out, Robes this one
Speaker 2: turned out to be incredibly compelling. Even hearing that horror,
Speaker 2: there is still humanity at the end. It's amazing that
Speaker 2: that's even possible.
Speaker 1: Just hearing you say that gave me shell. So here
Speaker 1: are the final words that Marcus and six other family
Speaker 1: members of Roxanne heard last night, right before Cedric Ris
Speaker 1: was pronounced dead. He said, I want to say that
Speaker 1: I'm sorry for taking Roxanne and Anthony from y'all. I'm
Speaker 1: glad to be able to speak to tell y'all that
Speaker 1: face to face, and to Marcus, I always thought about you,
Speaker 1: and I am sorry that I took your mom and
Speaker 1: your brother away. I hate that you had to experience that.
Speaker 1: I just can't imagine. But I'm truly sorry for what
Speaker 1: I did, what I've done, and I wish all peace
Speaker 1: and joy as much as you can. But I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: That's all I can say. I hope y'all go in peace.
Speaker 1: I really do. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: It's the best you could ever hope for. At the end,
Speaker 2: you could what more could you get? Maybe the family
Speaker 2: looks at this and wants him to die and consider
Speaker 2: that finality. I can't imagine those words doing. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I can't speak for that family, like would they prefer
Speaker 2: not to have heard that?
Speaker 1: I doubt it harm?
Speaker 2: Did it do harm in some way? And I don't
Speaker 2: know how it came across in the room and how
Speaker 2: he said it, but at least reading them on paper
Speaker 2: come off a certain way robes and that's sincere, you know.
Speaker 1: And we talked about this. There was an AP reporter
Speaker 1: who was in that execution chamber and he was giving
Speaker 1: these details. He's the one who told us what these
Speaker 1: final words were. But he also mentioned that Rick's voice
Speaker 1: was cracking when he spoke these words, and that there
Speaker 1: were tears in his eyes.
Speaker 2: I mean, what was it? Can you have grace and
Speaker 2: decency for someone who murdered a child by stap them
Speaker 2: and murdered that child's mother and attempted to murder a
Speaker 2: second child? Can you have any grace in your heart?
Speaker 2: I don't know. You could mourn, and you could have
Speaker 2: grace ropes for a human life, not for the act.
Speaker 2: But I mean, this is just death is awful. It
Speaker 2: is to plan it, and these ceremonies we go through
Speaker 2: are awful. But maybe we always take something out of it.
Speaker 2: And man, I hope it brought something to the family.
Speaker 1: I hope it did too. I was thinking about the fact. Look,
Speaker 1: the family didn't speak and that's why we don't know
Speaker 1: their reaction. They chose not to speak to reporters. I
Speaker 1: can understand not really being in a good headspace or
Speaker 1: in a good emotional space to actually react to it
Speaker 1: in front of cameras with microphones, after all this family
Speaker 1: has been through. But I would imagine that hearing that
Speaker 1: from him was better than hearing nothing. At least it
Speaker 1: wasn't as if he was saying it to get out
Speaker 1: of being executed, or to get off easier, or to
Speaker 1: get a lighter sentence. He had no motivation other than
Speaker 1: trying to give that family peace, maybe trying to get
Speaker 1: into heaven instead of hell if he's a believer. I
Speaker 1: believe he is a believer. Actually we'll get into that
Speaker 1: in just a moment. But I also think it says
Speaker 1: something about given enough time, certain people might be able
Speaker 1: to reflect in a way about their actions where they
Speaker 1: can say they're sorry. If enough time hadn't passed, maybe
Speaker 1: he wouldn't have been able to do so, But at
Speaker 1: least he was able to give them that. At the end,
Speaker 1: when we come back, we're going to talk about Cedric Rix,
Speaker 1: because he actually had more to say before he died
Speaker 1: to his living sons who are still here. They were
Speaker 1: not there last night, but we're going to read some
Speaker 1: of what he had to say to them, and certainly
Speaker 1: talk about what the rest of this year was going
Speaker 1: to look like after a record setting gear of executions
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five. Welcome back everyone to this episode
Speaker 1: of Amy and TJ. We are talking about the incredibly
Speaker 1: unexpected but profound moments we saw last night in Texas,
Speaker 1: just before fifty one year old Cedric Rix was given
Speaker 1: a lethal cocktail, a lethal injection where he was pronounced
Speaker 1: dead about thirty minutes after the process began. But he
Speaker 1: gave a very long apology to his victims' family members
Speaker 1: who were there watching his execution for a horrific murder
Speaker 1: to murders actually the brutal stabbing deaths of thirty year
Speaker 1: old rock Sanne Sanchez and her eight year old son Anthony.
Speaker 1: Her other son who is now twenty five years old,
Speaker 1: who was also attacked by Cedric, was in that room
Speaker 1: that night and heard that apology, some of which was
Speaker 1: directly aimed at him. Before he actually stepped into that
Speaker 1: death chamber. He wrote some letters to his sons from
Speaker 1: death row and they were released. And he has a
Speaker 1: son from a previous marriage. And then that little nine
Speaker 1: month old baby that we talked about before the break.
Speaker 1: Isaiah was his name, and that certainly would be the
Speaker 1: half brother to Marcus, who was there in the room
Speaker 1: last night. This is what he had to say to
Speaker 1: those sons. Sometimes I wake up kicking and screaming for
Speaker 1: what I have done to you. I can't say sorry
Speaker 1: enough for what I've done. My prayer is that you
Speaker 1: can forgive me. My prayer is that you both will
Speaker 1: carry on the legacy of who I have become in Christ,
Speaker 1: and not who I used to be. He talked about grace,
Speaker 1: he's asking for it.
Speaker 2: It's tough who gives it, who has the right to
Speaker 2: give it? Who is right? We're not well. I guess
Speaker 2: I was about to say we're not his judge, but
Speaker 2: actually we are as society, and that's why he's dead
Speaker 2: right now. Quite frankly, I don't know what you do
Speaker 2: with people sometimes right who commit the worst of acts.
Speaker 2: I guess we've been around and been exposed to people
Speaker 2: and things like this more than most, and been up
Speaker 2: close and personal. But we've also witnessed some of the
Speaker 2: worst in people, and we've seen the best, but we
Speaker 2: also seen transitions, We've seen people change. I just love
Speaker 2: the idea ropes. Yes, he's dead now, but I love
Speaker 2: the idea for us continuing to find value in human
Speaker 2: beings even after they have taken life or not contributed
Speaker 2: even to the rest of society by their actions. But
Speaker 2: we find a way to recognize how they still can
Speaker 2: contribute to a loved one, to a niece they're still
Speaker 2: nursing or being a parent to while they're in jail,
Speaker 2: to speaking to other prisoners, there's value still in somebody's life.
Speaker 2: And I don't know, it seems weird. It's sympathy. It's
Speaker 2: not sympathy for a murderer. This is just being a
Speaker 2: human being and being decent, and I don't know. Finding
Speaker 2: moments of grace everywhere.
Speaker 1: I think it's such an important way to look at it, because, yes,
Speaker 1: sometimes the contribution that some of these inmates can make
Speaker 1: is a cautionary tale to either other family members or
Speaker 1: other folks who are headed down that same path, and
Speaker 1: help them turn their lives around. Go in a different direction.
Speaker 1: You don't want to end up like me. And I
Speaker 1: also was when I was reading the not only what
Speaker 1: he said to the family last night before he was executed,
Speaker 1: but what he asked if his sons, I pray that
Speaker 1: you can forgive me. That wasn't something he was asking
Speaker 1: for himself so he could feel less guilty. I started
Speaker 1: recognizing for what it was he was asking that for them,
Speaker 1: because if the family of Roxane, if his own sons,
Speaker 1: can forgive him, it takes that burden of hatred off
Speaker 1: of them. When you forgive someone, you release something, You
Speaker 1: release some of the pain, you release some of the anger.
Speaker 1: You actually can invite peace in once forgive. And so
Speaker 1: I started thinking about it differently. When people say can
Speaker 1: you forgive me, we think, oh, that's a selfish thing.
Speaker 1: You just want to get rid of your guilt. But
Speaker 1: actually it's a gift to the other person. If they
Speaker 1: can truly forgive the worst possible thing, that that means
Speaker 1: a life of potential peace following it.
Speaker 2: Yes, there will be plenty of people right now, robes
Speaker 2: are just rolling our eyes. He's a monster, deserves to die.
Speaker 2: That's the end of story. And then you're okay to
Speaker 2: feel that way, We understand, but there is it's okay
Speaker 2: to feel the other way, and it's okay to for
Speaker 2: us all to sit in the same room with a
Speaker 2: different opinion about this. And yeah, I'm curious. I like
Speaker 2: hearing other people's perspective when they are angry and when
Speaker 2: they're like, yeah, he should die. I'm listening because I
Speaker 2: just it's something this ugly, there is some hint of
Speaker 2: beauty in the end, and when it just comes to
Speaker 2: human beings, human nature, apologies, grace, forgiveness and moving on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, It's kind of what life is all about, isn't it.
Speaker 1: And Rix was already the second inmate put to death
Speaker 1: in Texas this year. He was the sixth in the country.
Speaker 1: We're at March twelfth right now. The next execution is
Speaker 1: in the state that has become by far the leading
Speaker 1: state in executions, at least it was last year, a
Speaker 1: record setting Florida. In five days, Michael King is set
Speaker 1: to be executed in that state, and we will continue
Speaker 1: to following the growing number of scheduled executions. They happened
Speaker 1: month by month. We don't know the total number yet,
Speaker 1: that will still be to be determined, but certainly we
Speaker 1: are seeing governors and specifically the state of Florida.
Speaker 2: De Santos is running out of ink. He is signing
Speaker 2: death wards left and right. They wasn't close last year,
Speaker 2: by the way they didn't just set a record in
Speaker 2: the state and number one. They were way nineteen versus
Speaker 2: who had the most after that five.
Speaker 1: Five I believe Texas and South Carolina maybe.
Speaker 2: So we got two more of this month in the country.
Speaker 2: Both of those are in Florida within two weeks of
Speaker 2: each other, at the seventeenth and the thirty first, I
Speaker 2: believe I have right, So yes, Florida's we started the
Speaker 2: year with only I think somewhere around seventeen eighteen on
Speaker 2: the books planned, and already more have been signed. That
Speaker 2: number will go up in the country.
Speaker 1: It certainly will. And look, we will continue to follow
Speaker 1: some of these stories that actually make an impression or
Speaker 1: at least have some lessons in them. I think it's
Speaker 1: something that we can all look at. This is our
Speaker 1: criminal justice system, and certainly so many of us have
Speaker 1: been touched by it in different ways. So we always
Speaker 1: appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy roback alongside TJ. Holmes,
Speaker 1: and we will talk to you soon.