Convicted Killer’s Last Words: “I Can’t Ask You to Forgive Me, I Can’t Even Do It Myself”

JACKSON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Exhausting all chances for leniency, three and a half hours after he was scheduled to die, the State executed 38-year-old convicted killer Andrew Cook.

Four protesters showed up to denounce Cook’s execution and stood firmly in their stance against the death penalty.

“I think we have other appropriate ways of taking care of these situations, other than death,” said Sarah, a protester.

41NBC’s Andrew Reeser was at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson to witness Cook’s death by lethal injection for killing two Mercer students back on Lake Juliette in 1995. From 9am to 4pm, Cook visited with family and friends and ate his last meal…steak, baked potato, potato wedges, fried shrimp, lemon meringue pie and soda.

At 5pm He was offered the chance to record a final statement, but he refused. At 6pm he was offered an optional sedative called Ativan to relax him before his final moments. He took it. As the scheduled time for the execution came and went, witnesses, media and Cook waited for the final decision of the US Supreme Court. Almost 4 hours passed as the warden awaited the High Court’s decision, Cook having exhausted all other appeals to the Georgia Supreme Court and the State Court of Appeals. His lawyers had argued the State was breaking the law by using the sedative drug Pentobarbital in the execution without a prescription. The Courts dismissed that appeal. He would be the first inmate executed since Georgia changed its lethal injection in July from a three-drug combination to one dose of Pentobarbital. 

Around 10:35 pm, the media learned Cook’s execution would go forward.

Media members were taken to a building on the other side of the prison grounds–they passed through various checkpoints guarded by armed officers. Public officials, including Monroe County DOC Commissioner Brian Owens and Sheriff John Cary Bittick–who investigated the Lake Juliette killings–entered the execution chamber first with other witnesses. Media were allowed in later and were seated on the back pew.

There lay Cook, strapped to a gurney, covered in a white sheet–separated from the witnesses by a glass window. A woman in white stood ready to supervise the injection. Cook looked relaxed, alert and aware of his surroundings, despite the sedative given him hours prior. Carl Humphrey, Warden at the GDC Prison, addressed the witnesses and asked them to remain quiet during the execution.  Then, he asked Cook if he had any last words.

“I’d like to apologize to the victims’ families,” he said, emotionless. “I could not give that last statement.” Then, referring to his random shooting of Michele Cartagena and Grant Hendrickson while they stargazed on Lake Juliette in 1995, he said “It was senseless. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not going to ask you to forgive me–I can’t even do it myself. I thank my family for their support, for being with me.”

Then, his last words: “I’m sorry I took so much from you all.”

The Warden asked Cook if he would like a prayer said on his behalf–he declined. Then, the warden left the room. Witnesses sat silent, the only audible sound the buzz of the air conditioner. Cook did not look nervous…he seemed ready for his punishment. The Pentobarbital was injected into his veins…the long tube containing the drug seeming to come through the wall behind him. Minutes passed. His eyes began to dart back and forth. He remained alert, and looked at the witnesses. He again mouthed the words “I’m sorry.”

Soon, he began to breathe heavily as the drug began to take effect. He became pale, his eyes began to roll. His breathing then slowed. He was still.

The silence was broken by a man behind the media pew, who seemed to say “I need to go out…” One of the guards let him exit.

Finally, after 15 minutes, the warden entered the chamber with two men dressed in white lab coats. Each had a stethoscope. They unstrapped the gurney, opened Cook’s robe, and checked for a heartbeat. They checked his eyes, which were now lifeless. Both nodded to each other.

Humphrey again addressed the witnesses. Cook was pronounced dead at 11:22pm. He told the witnesses to remain seated. Then white curtains closed on the lifeless image of Andrew Cook. There were no tears for him in the chamber.

Cook’s family was not present at the execution. It was not clear whether the Cartagena or Hendrickson families were there.