Arkansas - Christina Riggs, executed

Christina Riggs was convicted of murdering her two children and subsequently sentenced to death despite the fact that she nearly succeeded in taking her own life the same evening. Christina was suffering from a very deep depression and apparently did not want to have her children split up after her own suicide as the children had different fathers. This is a perfect example of misapplied justice, in my opinion. Christina nearly did end her own life, and repeatedly stated she would prefer to in fact die. This is no different then suicide by police.  Even if you choose to be pro-death penalty, it's a huge stretch to apply it here.

The State of Arkansas put a woman to death tonight for the first time since the state began performing executions in 1913.
The woman, Christina Marie Riggs, 28, a former nurse, was put to death by lethal injection for killing her two children, Justin, 5, and Shelby Alexis, 2, in November 1997. Ms. Riggs admitted killing the children, and explained that she was deeply depressed at the time. She said she gave her son potassium chloride and morphine and when that did not kill him, she smothered him with a pillow. Then she smothered her daughter to death. She also tried to kill herself with potassium chloride.
Potassium chloride was one of the three drugs the state used in executing Ms. Riggs tonight.
The lethal injection was administered 9:18 p.m. Central Standard Time, and Ms. Riggs was pronounced dead at 9:28 p.m.
Before the injection was administered she made a statement that began, ''No words can express just how sorry I am for taking the lives of my babies. No way I can make up for or take away the pain I have caused everyone who knew and loved them.'' After the injection was administered, her last words were, ''I love you, my babies.''

Source

Lance Morrow: Why I changed my mind on the death penalty
The state of Arkansas played the part of Jack Kevorkian in a case of assisted suicide. Christina Riggs said she wanted to die. She had dropped all legal appeals. She wanted to be with her children in heaven. Just before Riggs died, she said, "I love you, my babies." Some people said she had killed them because she was severely depressed. The prosecutor, on the other hand, called her "a self-centered, selfish, premeditated killer who did the unspeakable act of taking her own children's lives."
Read More