# Confession of another murder just before execution? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 8, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confession-of-another-murder-just-before-execution/467061 "2008-10-08T20:52:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confession-of-another-murder-just-before-execution/467061/1 "2008-10-08T20:52:47Z")
Suppose, strapped to the guerney, the condemned confesses to another unsolved murder (and at least knows some details about the case when asked, to make the confession seem plausible). What then typically (if this has ever happened—I suppose it has) happens? Does the execution go ahead as planned, is there a stay whilst this is investigated, or what? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confession-of-another-murder-just-before-execution/467061/2 "2008-10-08T23:44:41Z")
It goes ahead. There’s no reason to stop it. If the killer’s guilty of the murder, he can only be killed once. If he got a stay in order to investigate the claim, everyone just about to be executed would confess to any damn thing. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confession-of-another-murder-just-before-execution/467061/3 "2008-10-09T12:47:32Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > It goes ahead. There’s no reason to stop it. If the killer’s guilty of the murder, he can only be killed once. If he got a stay in order to investigate the claim, everyone just about to be executed would confess to any damn thing. I like your logic, but I’d like a cite even better (says the guy who posted an incorrect WAG in another GQ thread just a few minutes ago. Which one is the “hypocrite” smiley? :)). ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confession-of-another-murder-just-before-execution/467061/4 "2008-10-09T12:54:15Z")
The night before he was executed, Ted Bundy confessed to several murders he had not been charged with. It didn’t change anything. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confession-of-another-murder-just-before-execution/467061/5 "2008-10-09T13:37:01Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The night before he was executed, Ted Bundy confessed to several murders he had not been charged with. It didn’t change anything. Didn’t he postpone execution for some time by confessing to additional murders, though? ---
**Author:** ![mrpayday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@mrpayday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrpayday)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confession-of-another-murder-just-before-execution/467061/6 "2008-10-10T02:06:01Z")
It does matter in cases where someone else has been found guilty of the crime. Eric Cooke confessed to murders that others had been convicted of, but his confession was ignored for about 40 years. Fortunately no one was mistakenly hanged for his crimes. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric\_Edgar\_Cooke](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Edgar_Cooke) ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confession-of-another-murder-just-before-execution/467061/7 "2008-10-10T02:43:24Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Didn’t he postpone execution for some time by confessing to additional murders, though? No. Bundy confessed to eight murders for which he was the prime suspect but had never been charged. He also offered to reveal the location of some of the bodies of victims that hadn’t been found if his execution was delayed. The state declined, and he asked the families of the victims to write letters requesting a delay. They all declined as well. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confession-of-another-murder-just-before-execution/467061/8 "2008-10-10T03:22:23Z")
> [@anson2995](#): > > No. Thanks. Perhaps I have him confused with someone else. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confession-of-another-murder-just-before-execution/467061/9 "2008-10-10T12:19:16Z")
Bundy also confessed to a few murders where he hadn’t been the suspected killer. He use to go trolling for victims, driving miles and then picking up female hitchhikers solely for the purpose of raping, torturing and killing them. He gave details that convinced the police, who looked up the unsolved crimes after he was executed, that he was the killer. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confession-of-another-murder-just-before-execution/467061/10 "2008-10-10T18:21:25Z")
This is kind of similar to a soap opera I watched. The woman was in prison in one state and was given the death penalty. So she broke out of prison and was captured in another state without the death penalty, so while in prison she killed another prisoner and thus had a stay of execution while she was tried and the non-death penalty state refused to extradite her to a death penalty state. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confession-of-another-murder-just-before-execution/467061/11 "2008-10-10T18:51:15Z")
Thomas Neil Cream was hanged for the murder of prostitutes in England in 1892. His last words, as they pulled the trap, were “I am Jack…” Speculation that he was going to say “The Ripper” abounds. I guess that pushes the definition of “just before,” though. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confession-of-another-murder-just-before-execution/467061/12 "2008-10-10T19:33:52Z")
> [@Reno\_Nevada](#): > > Thomas Neil Cream was hanged for the murder of prostitutes in England in 1892. He [poisoned](http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/history/cream/on_2.html) them which doesn’t fit Jack’s method. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confession-of-another-murder-just-before-execution/467061/13 "2008-10-10T22:32:48Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > This is kind of similar to a soap opera I watched. The woman was in prison in one state and was given the death penalty. So she broke out of prison and was captured in another state without the death penalty, so while in prison she killed another prisoner and thus had a stay of execution while she was tried and the non-death penalty state refused to extradite her to a death penalty state. Escape from death row is well nigh impossible. Here in California, there are in a separate cell block with quite a bit more security. ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Norder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confession-of-another-murder-just-before-execution/467061/14 "2008-10-15T23:49:28Z")
Sorry for being off the topic of the OP, but… > [@Reno\_Nevada](#): > > Thomas Neil Cream was hanged for the murder of prostitutes in England in 1892. His last words, as they pulled the trap, were “I am Jack…” Though widely repeated online and in some books, this is highly unlikely to have actually happened. A good percentage of the stories and anecdotes related the Ripper murders were simply made up, and this is almost certainly one of them. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > He poisoned them which doesn’t fit Jack’s method. More importantly he was in another country and _in prison_ at the time of the Ripper murders. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confession-of-another-murder-just-before-execution/467061/15 "2008-10-16T00:15:19Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Escape from death row is well nigh impossible. Here in California, there are in a separate cell block with quite a bit more security. She was being transported to the prison where she was going to be executed and the car ran off the road knocking the drivers out while amazingly she survived and managed to get out of the car. 🙂