On November 2, 2005, drifters Wendell Grissom and Jessie Johns burst through the door at Dreu Kopf’s rural Blaine County home. Grissom shot Kopf several times, wounding her and then chased 23-year-old Amber Matthews into another room where she used herself as a human shield to protect Knof’s daughters, 18 months and six weeks old.
That final act of heroism cost Matthews her life. Grissom paid that debt Thursday when he was put to death at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
Grissom was strapped to a table, his IV already in place when the curtain was whisked out of the way. He had asked for and received a Xanax the evening before and already that morning.
Once the death sentence had been read, the inmate used the entire two minutes he was granted for his last words. He apologized for what he had put the victims and his family through.
“I was under the influence of drugs and alcohol. That’s no excuse, it was still my fault. I chose to do that. But I’m not who I made myself look like that day,” he said.
He did not ask for forgiveness, but said those who had hate in their hearts for him should forgive him, not for his own benefit but for theirs. “I pray you can find forgiveness. Not for me but for your sake. It’s the only way you can find God in this,” he said. He added he loved everyone and this,” he said. He added he loved everyone and gave a thumbs-up signal and told the onlookers he was going to be all right.
The first drug, midazolam, sedated the inmate. A doctor entered the room to ensure unconsciousness was complete. It was, with
Grissom actually snoring softly.
The second and third drugs were administered, slowing his pronounced respiration until it stopped. His left hand and arm flexed briefly, then his face lost all color and faded to an ashen state.
Wendell Grissom was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m., about 12 minutes after the process began.
The process was noted as being faster than some of the witnesses had seen in other sentences being carried out.
Kathy Johnson, Matthew’s stepsister, spoke briefly in the media center after the pronouncement.
“This is the final closure of this process,” she said. “Today we got a piece of justice.”
She went on to describe Matthews as bubbly and her father’s angel, the one who was his rock.
Knof spoke as well. She noted it took 13 minutes for Grissom to die, but only two minutes to kill her best friend. She went on to detail the debilitating PTSD she suffered for more than two years, unable to care for her children and living in constant fear, terrified of a ringing doorbell or a man with a backpack at the store. In her mind, there was always danger in the most mundane of events.
Now, she said, she was going to do her best to put Grissom out of her mind.
Jessie Johns remains in prison serving a life sentence. Grissom was on death row for 20 years.
After his execution, there remain 30 inmates under a death sentence in Oklahoma.