A Day in Photos: Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee in July 2012

Witnessing the Execution: Final words, quick breaths, end of a life

Marco Allen Chapman died with his eyes open. Leon Taylor passed away with his toes pointed up.

Chapman pleaded guilty to killing two children, trying to kill a third and attacking their mother and asked for death in northern Kentucky. (http://bit.ly/1yC1mV2). He got his wish in 2009

Taylor robbed and killed two men in Kansas City and fought his conviction and sentence to the end. Missouri got what it sought in November. (http://yhoo.it/1xSZy7f)

In both cases, the executions were carried out by lethal injection, a now troubled and controversial method of ending a condemned man's life. In both the case of Chapman and Taylor, there were no problems apparent in the executions. Things were oddly calm and sterile at the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville for Chapman and at a prison in Bonne Terre in Missouri for Taylor.

Chapman 's crime was horrific, a revenge killing carried out because the woman involved told a girlfriend that Chapman was likely bad news. Chapman fought for about five years for his right to die.

When the time came for the execution on a cool November evening in western Kentucky, Chapman apologized. It wasn't the first time. He repeatedly expressed remorse in an interview with me and in subsequent phone calls when we talked about his case and he wondered why it was taking so long given that he wasn't fighting the efforts to kill him. Said he wanted to die to show how sorry he was for destroying that family's life.

Taylor fought until the end, when a few hours before the execution, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his last appeal and Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon turned down a clemency request.

In both cases, once the curtains were pulled back on the execution chamber, the men were already on a table, IV lines inserted and the lethal drugs waiting to go.

Chapman gave his apologies again and again, even trying to sit up to address the survivors directly. Once he was done, the drugs were pushed into his veins. Chapman took multiple deep, quick breaths, then suddenly stopped.

All the color drained from his face, his body went slack and he stared at the ceiling where, moments earlier, a microphone hung to record his last words. He would be pronounced dead a short time later. His eyes remained open until the warden, Thomas Simpson, leaned over and closed them just before death was pronounced.

When Taylor became visible to witnesses, he had a white sheet pulled up to his neck, only the outline of his body was visible. He spoke to family members in an adjacent room, but with no microphone, his words weren't audible.

The drugs started, Taylor took a few quick breaths, then stopped. His jaw went slack, but his toes remained pointed upward at the ceiling. Within 12 minutes of the execution starting, Taylor was dead.

Chapman's remains were sent to a family member out of state. Taylor's family made arrangements for his body.

Neither execution drew rabid protests. A small assembly of people objected to Chapman's execution. Almost no one spoke outside the prison for Taylor.

In both cases, the night ended dark, cool and peaceful.