Alabama executes a man who said he was guilty of rape and murder and deserved to die

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ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama man who dropped his appeals and said he deserved to die for a 2010 rape and murder was put to death Thursday evening, using his final words to apologize to the woman he killed.

James Osgood, 55, was pronounced dead at 6:35 p.m. following a three-drug injection at a south Alabama prison, authorities said.

A jury in 2014 convicted Osgood of capital murder in the death of Tracy Lynn Brown in Chilton County. Prosecutors said Osgood cut her throat after he and his girlfriend sexually assaulted her.

Strapped to a gurney and wearing a tan prison uniform, Osgood used his last moments to speak about his victim.

“I haven’t said her name since that day,” Osgood said, adding that was because he was unsure if he should say it. “Tracy, I apologize.”

The curtains opened to the witness room at 6:09 p.m. It was unclear what time the injection began. As the execution got underway, Osgood looked toward family members seated in a witness room. Family and friends cried quietly as he lost consciousness.

His breathing became deep and labored and his head fell back on the gurney at about 6:15 p.m. His breathing was no longer visible by about 6:18 p.m. Several minutes later, he was pronounced dead.

Brown, 44, was found dead in her home on Oct. 23, 2010, after her employer became concerned when she did not show up for work.

Prosecutors said Osgood admitted to police that he and his girlfriend sexually assaulted Brown after discussing how they had shared fantasies about kidnapping and torturing someone. The pair forced their victim to perform sex acts at gunpoint. They said Osgood then killed Brown by cutting her throat. His girlfriend, who was Brown’s cousin, was sentenced to life in prison.

The jury in 2014 took 40 minutes to convict him and unanimously recommended a death sentence. His initial death sentence was thrown out by an appeals court. At resentencing in 2018, Osgood asked for another death sentence, saying he didn’t want the families to endure another hearing.

Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said the victim’s family members witnessed the execution in a separate viewing room. They chose not to make a statement to the media, he said.

Gov. Kay Ivey issued a statement, calling the killing “premeditated, gruesome and disturbing.”

“I pray that her loved ones can feel some sense of closure today,” the governor said.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said “my heart and prayers are with Tracy’s family.”

“No one should have to endure the pain they’ve carried or relive the horror of her tragic and senseless death,” Marshall added.

Osgood told AP last week he had dropped his appeals because he was guilty and thought his execution should go forward.

“I’m a firm believer in — like I said in court — an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I took a life, so mine was forfeited. I don’t believe in sitting here and wasting everybody’s time and everybody’s money,” Osgood said.

The Death Penalty Information Center reported last year that 165 of the 1,650 people executed since 1977 had asked to be put to death. A moratorium on the death penalty ended that year, and the center said the overwhelming majority of the execution volunteers since had histories of mental illness, substance abuse or suicidal ideation.

Alison Mollman, who represented Osgood for the last decade, said in a statement that Osgood — called “Taz” by his friends — was “more than his worst actions.”

“He made mistakes, terrible ones that he regretted until his dying day, but he didn’t make excuses for his actions. He was accountable and he was sincere,” said Mollman, legal director for the ACLU of Alabama.

The execution was the second in Alabama this year and the 14th in the nation overall.

On Feb. 6, Alabama used nitrogen gas to execute Demetrius Frazier, 52, for his conviction in the 1991 rape and killing of a 41-year-old woman. Alabama in 2024 became the first state to conduct nitrogen gas executions, putting three people to death by that method last year. It involves replacing breathable air with pure nitrogen gas through a respirator mask, causing death by lack of oxygen.

For decades, lethal injection was the preferred way to execute death row prisoners in the U.S. But recent problems procuring and administering the drugs led some states to consider alternative methods. Condemned prisoners in Alabama can choose execution by injection, the electric chair or nitrogen gas.

Osgood picked lethal injection. Hamm said it took a total of five attempts to get the two required IV lines connected to Osgood.