Executed on January 5, 2012 at 6:10 p.m by Lethal Injection in Oklahoma. First execution in the U.S. in 2012.
Death row inmates could be heard banging on their cells immediately before the execution of Gary Welch began. He acknowledged the prisoners in his final statement.
Final Words:
"I was just going to ask everybody if they could hear my brothers out there."
"I know it's kind of quiet now, but I want to acknowledge that my brothers are here with me to send me off on my journey. They are here on my behalf.
They've already given me my little send off. So let's get it on because that's what we're here for."
He then repeated four times, "Valhalla, Odin, slay the beast." Valhalla is referenced in “Scandinavian Mythology” and refers to (according to dictionaryreference.com) "the hall of Odin into which the souls of heroes slain in battle and others who have died bravely are received." Welch believed that his toughest battles would begin after leaving his body and that he faced slaying a three-headed dragon that stood at the gates of the "warrior's paradise" Valhalla. If he slayed the beast, he could enter.
- Gary Roland Welch, 49
Victim: Robert Dean Hardcastle, 39
According to court records, Welch was convicted and sentenced to death for the August 25, 1994, murder of Robert Hardcastle during a fight that began inside Hardcastle’s residence. Welch assaulted Hardcastle inside his duplex and then chased him when he fled his home. Welch and co-conspirator Claudie Conover continued the assault in a ditch at the end of the street where multiple witnesses observed Welch punch and stab the Hardcastle before slashing him with a broken beer bottle.
"Gary Welch had a 15-year history of violent crimes that included multiple assaults on women and police officers, burglary, stabbings and carrying concealed weapons before his conviction for murder," said Attorney General Scott Pruitt in a written statement. "The punishment of death as chosen by a jury of Welch's peers is reserved for the most heinous crimes. My thoughts are with Robert Hardcastle's family and what they have endured for the past 17 years."
Death row inmates could be heard banging on their cells immediately before the execution of Gary Welch began. He acknowledged the prisoners in his final statement.
Final Words:
"I was just going to ask everybody if they could hear my brothers out there."
"I know it's kind of quiet now, but I want to acknowledge that my brothers are here with me to send me off on my journey. They are here on my behalf.
They've already given me my little send off. So let's get it on because that's what we're here for."
He then repeated four times, "Valhalla, Odin, slay the beast." Valhalla is referenced in “Scandinavian Mythology” and refers to (according to dictionaryreference.com) "the hall of Odin into which the souls of heroes slain in battle and others who have died bravely are received." Welch believed that his toughest battles would begin after leaving his body and that he faced slaying a three-headed dragon that stood at the gates of the "warrior's paradise" Valhalla. If he slayed the beast, he could enter.
- Gary Roland Welch, 49
Victim: Robert Dean Hardcastle, 39
According to court records, Welch was convicted and sentenced to death for the August 25, 1994, murder of Robert Hardcastle during a fight that began inside Hardcastle’s residence. Welch assaulted Hardcastle inside his duplex and then chased him when he fled his home. Welch and co-conspirator Claudie Conover continued the assault in a ditch at the end of the street where multiple witnesses observed Welch punch and stab the Hardcastle before slashing him with a broken beer bottle.
"Gary Welch had a 15-year history of violent crimes that included multiple assaults on women and police officers, burglary, stabbings and carrying concealed weapons before his conviction for murder," said Attorney General Scott Pruitt in a written statement. "The punishment of death as chosen by a jury of Welch's peers is reserved for the most heinous crimes. My thoughts are with Robert Hardcastle's family and what they have endured for the past 17 years."
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