Tuesday at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, Larry Matthew Puckett was put to death by lethal injection for the capital murder conviction of Rhonda Griffis.
Puckett sexually assualted then beat Griffis to death with a club in her home. Griffis' husband and their children and Rhonda's mother all arrived at the same time at the Griffis home. Puckett's truck was parked outside. They entered and literally caught Puckett red handed with the club.
Puckett was a true psychopath. He never admitted guilt or expressed remorse for what he did. A woman who had been writing to him in prison said Puckett was a nice guy and a good writer etc. and so on. (Like Charles Manson's women thought Charlie was a swell guy, they chose to see one side of a monster, not the total picture.)
As Puckett was strapped to the gurney he was asked if he had any last words. He said "no." Rhonda Griffis' family received no apology for the grief he had caused them.
So last night I went to bed early because of the storm outside and woke at 3:30am by the sound of strong wind and hard rain beating against the house. I turned on the radio to see what was the latest news of tornados. I turned the dial and heard someone who sounded like Jimmy Swaggart saying "Man was born of sin and evil deeds will follow him" (something like that) and for a moment I thought he was talking about Puckett.
But no,he was just sermonizing, and after every sentence he paused to breathe hard into the microphone, as if he had just run a mile. Swaggart and storms and thoughts of the perfidity of humankind--that was a moment in time for me in the wee hours of the morning.
susil