The Long Goodbye

this is Michael Hall senior editor with Texas monthly magazine we have a story in the September issue about Charles Dean Hood a resident of Texas's death row since 1990 we've been corresponding with each other since 2002 this last summer he started writing letters about his life on death row this interview coming up is from an interview that I did with him at death row on July the 2nd we're talking about his execution date it was actually his fourth execution date he' had one in '94 99 2005 and then this was uh to be his his last day and it wound up being a very strange day one of the weirdest days in uh modern Texas execution history he actually got two stays of execution on this day which is a first in in Texas history basically the the state called off the execution because they wouldn't have been able to finish the protocol in time because they have to do it by midnight and so about 11:40 the state actually called it off on their own usually it's a a higher court that stays in execution and calls the whole thing off this was the Texas Department of Criminal Justice that did it which had never happened before in the history of Texas I had been to visit Hood a couple times before that and one of the things that he had talked about and he actually uh talked about with us and was how he had seen men getting a stay of execution and actually coming back to to death row and how it had just changed them and just really affected him in in this terrible way and he was he was dreading that um I mean of course he was dreading dying he certainly doesn't want to die but he was dreading also going through the whole stay process going through all the all all of that and then coming back and having to go through the whole process again and then on this day he actually had it happen to him twice uh needless to say it really freaked him out me tell something they they tried to kill me that night because they don't want that SC the they tried to kill man and thank God that theing cour waited so long they they they ruled in uh 11:18 but then 11:30 showed up I was still on the phone with my sister M and uh they said that was it I got go and that room filled up man and I hey and then that guy come back to me he says man I'm taking you back to plunky I said are you lying to me because he didn't took me back the first time can you just start at the beginning and yeah and talk about that I mean tell me because I this letter you wrote is just just amazing but like did you sleep the night before oh man I I had been up 24 hours I mean it was you know you're you're in a cell that has a camera so it's you have no privacy in you're trying to prepare yourself so from 6:00 that that night before I was up because I listened to my Shout Out Show yeah and I was able to hear my brother and them all over there I mean because the day before I mean the day that day I was up all day anyway CU I was here visiting my brother and sister and it just I mean not my brother and sister yeah my brother and sister was on Monday yeah and it just we just broke down a couple times and just man it just ate us you know I mean nothing I believe in God a lot but nothing can prepare you for that over there nothing man it's it just it just takes everything out of you like it it drains you I mean drains you physically and mentally I [Music] uh after that day that visit that the day that night I had my shoutout show I couldn't sleep I tried I tried and I tried I cried I just tried and I tried and I couldn't sleep that morning I woke up they uh I had to get everything prepared cuz they picking my property up I mean you're so intense I mean hey I I didn't ifate for 2 days you're so you're so stressed out you can't even use the restroom M and that morning when I came out here to visit my brother and sister the my my friend from Wisconsin came down Mr Terry I got to see him for two hours this was a friend of yours from from a long time ago yeah yeah and he got on trained for 2 hours and come down here to see me and it was just it was just amazing that uh he would he would come down here for 2 hours so I got to talk to him my brother my sister came back in and then my sister and all them my sister and brother came in we talked about we just reminisced about all times and it just broke down this is on on Tuesday Morning Yeah Tuesday morning cuz they only let you Vis visit for 4 hours then so so you visited from 8 to 10 with Mr Terry and I visit him I visit my brother from him and my brother from 8 to 10 and then my little sister came in uh when they came in my sister came in it just I could just see the toll that was taking on her and her brother you know she started crying brother said hey you know we haven't cried up until now let's don't start and we just all broke down it it just it just was heavier you know you you visit in here no on the other side over on the that one little room on the other side when you get down there last four days they put you over there can can you contact do you have contact it's just same glass too um you have no it's just like I I not God so I I I I I just felt I was going to get a stay you know but the second half I didn't prepare for um but when my sister was when she started breaking down I started crying and my brother started crying my brother stood up he turned his back to me um cuz I know he just weigh heavy on him uh after that he just he wiped his tears and and uh we just talked some more my sister really broke down and I saw the preacher man standing over there and I waved I said man will you please walk out with my sister because right towards the end a whole bunch of officers come in and it's like it just puts more pressure on your family you know because they're already they're crying you know they're they're going to walk out here but now you got all these people walking behind you and uh I asked him I Cuz Mr Anderson he's he's a real good guy and I said hey will you please walk out Mr you have no problem I'm going to do that so he walked out with him MH I was able to see stuff I haven't seen in a long time so I got to I just got to see people moving around and interacting you know just uh everyday life out there and do stuff you know just you haven't seen a long time it's a pretty Drive oh man you get AC I get I went across the bridge I saw boats out there in the lake just something you just don't you know unless you're looking in a magazine you just don't get to experience it in a pretense of of being out there like you're out there you know I step out of the back he asked me my name they escort me in there I go to the very back as soon as you walk in her dude it's like something from a movie it's very eerie it's dark the limes the lights are dim it's if you see in a death house on TV if you seen on the movie they praying the death house that's what it looks like something extremely scary something demanded this if you ain't scared you will be scared I don't care what kind of man you think you are I go in there they take the cups off of me the first thing he asked me he says are you going to be a hard ass are you going to get me into trouble I said sir I my record free myself I don't cause trouble he said that's all I need to hear I STP out again they take they go through the whole process again once that happens they take you over and their fingerprint you you go through a whole set of fingerprints then they esort to a sale they once they put you in the sale they hand you these clothes to wear then you put the clothes on they lock the door and then they double lock it with two different locks I mean just the first thing went to my mind Mike that 406 other men was in this cell and it just it's just extremely eer I mean it's you feel like you feel like you feel other people there that's not physically there m i mean I don't believe in that but that's what I mean that's what goes through your mind MH once you get dressed the horn comes in and a whole bunch of people when he comes in he he tells you the protocol and then he ask if you had any questions and I said yes sir I said if you don't mind I when I walk out of this cell what I what is all right if I lay down and he said what do you mean he said I just want to lay down and y'all carry me in there he said whatever you want to do Mr cuz I told him I said I didn't want to walk walk in there I wanted to close my eyes when I lay down and go through the whole process my eyes closed so I uh I was trying to calm myself down I talked to him we were holding hands and this is the Reverend um Mr Lopez yeah Lopez yeah um and then I asked he said well do you want to use do you want to use the phone I said yes I I really would like to call so the first thing I did was call Pay Phone reg phone in there m so you can just call out anywhere just call collect uh so I called to make sure that my brother and him were over to hospitality house first I got to speak to him for a few minutes then I called home I talked to Mom and Dad for a little bit then I stopped him I called my attorney I talked to him for a little bit how were your parents dealing with it uh Dad wasn't dealing with it too we I could tell in his voice that he had been crying mom she was dealing with it all right my sister Claudette I uh she was taking it pretty good uh it was just then for a little bit then a whole bunch of my other family started showing up they had a bombfire beside the house they were just all showing up yeah Dad he at one point in his conversation I heard him hand the phone over and he said uh I got to go lay down so I talked to Mom a little for a bit and uh clhe U we talked about everything just her husband got on the line I talked to the my nieces for a little bit um everybody just trying to keep encouraging everybody you know and then I told him I said I want to call a couple of my friends I'll call youall back and Mom said please call back and right then uh right around 4:30 the news came in I got a I got a state how' the news come to you um I was talking to I was talking to I called back I couldn't get a hold of my attorney right then I called back I told my brother and sister and all of a sudden boom they said you got to stay and man I jumped up for Jo I jumped up in this h i mean i man I was I was happy I mean I was shaking like crazy I mean I was holding on M Lopez hand man I thank God I said yeah I do too I I'm just praising God so love hasz on your side oh yeah yeah and uh he said man thank God you know he you just got to keep believing right and they say you know the phone Rank and they said he said yeah we already know he he's yelling back here cuz I was I mean I was just I was up for joy and right then it was around 5 and they said well and and officer another bunch of officers come in said we're leaving we're taking you back I mean my heart was be like I ran a marathon it was just something else and U hey uh I got dressed I got undressed went through the whole protocol stripping out being handcuffs on and stuff I got in the van I kept praising God I was looking I mean every time the gate show behind this van I was thinking man thank God I'm leaving here I'm leaving man and I I gave get all way to the back gate we stopped for a minute all they off get out they go over and they over by this phone they're talking and it didn't occur to me by the point officer and he come back and he said well hos I got to take it back I said what's going on and he wouldn't say nothing to me after that I keep asking off what's going on what's going on would say nothing to me see this is the right before the very last gate now we were in the very last gate all we were doing was waiting for those two cars to show back up okay so as soon as that last gate opens then you're outside again okay and uh they just backed up turned all way around went all the way back through that maze again I got to the back I had to go through everything and freaking again now I'm just so stressed out I kept praying hey I I keep saying God please don't let this happen I keep saying in the name of Jesus Christ don't let this happen please don't let these people escu me I was I was shaking like I was I was shaking like crazy did I got back in there went to the host they put him back in the Cil I waited a few minutes Mr Lopez show back up I can see the distraught his face was distraught I mean he he didn't know what was going on either I said I said sir I need to call my attorney and I could tell it was weighing heavy on him then because Mr Lopez sit down and started reading his Bible and I talked to my attorney my attorney said I don't know what's going on Hood you still have of a stay I don't know what's going on and he said well the judge recused himself the da filed to the CCA and and they refused it the man Davis to take away the man Davis so we're I said please keep it online if you need to talk somebody please you use your other line he said all right all right so he's on the computer we're talking I'm I'm I'm stressing out I'm really stressing big time because he can't find out what's going on all he can tell me is what he what Greg told him he said hey the judge recused himself I said well if he recuse himself then then I've got to stay they can't take it from me he says well now this this is like at 6:00 now so he says well sometimes the judge the the the prosecutor will file to try to get another judge I just I basically fell out I fell back down on my knees and I'm just I saying God please don't let this happen and I said I said I said Mr ell please don't let them kill me he said we're finally go back and forth right now Greg's on it don't worry the resource Center's opening don't worry we're doing everything we can and it was just a Glory of appeals being filed back and forth and the judges are not trying to trying to hear the issue they keep turning my attorney down on procedure about about him not signing a piece of paper and just mediocre stuff and not not dealing with the issue and he told me said well the judge the CCA George ordered the lower judge to revoke the state and she's not allowed to do that she's not allow to influence another judge and I said Mr I said Mr Ellis they're trying to kill me they don't want this to come out they're just trying to you know say the heck with the with the laws the heck with their oath that they took that's their colleague their friend so they're going to look out for her that that's going to kill me you know he said yeah that's what it seemed that's what it seemed like he said don't give up don't give up I said Mom I'm going to call my turn to see what's going on so I called him again did you tell anybody did you say you know if this goes to 12 then I'm all right I'm people know that no I didn't want to didn't want to CER it I didn't yeah I didn't want to think about that right uh because when I called Mr Ellis no matter of fact he called me he called on the line he said hey Mr PR just turn down and he said up I tell you I tell you what kind of turny I got he said is the W standing there I said yeah he says please let me talk to him and there's no doubt in my mind when I hit the phone over to him he said please don't execute him I got some more things there's no doubt in my mind that's what he said he said hey I'm following some more stuff can you please hold on I just know that's what he said that's the kind of he is you know he cares about me he believes in me and uh I said please can I stay online with you it now at 11: 11:20 or something like that the room filled up and the officer says you got to put the phone down I said please hang on a second I said Mr us and uh he says he says uh he just I tried everything I could tell I could tell he was crying and know I said don't worry I said I said I'm going to call my sister real quick all right he said okay so when an officer moved I asked Lopez and said please call real quick to my sister and I told Cheryl I said hey Cheryl I Feel Jesus here I love you I got to go Jesus is here to pick me up and she started crying like crazy I said don't worry I love you and I hung up the phone you know I said man a communist come over me it was just ple communist I mean I stopped shaking and everything and was old man and I I I get the phone up and I said I said man Jesus is here I mean the room is filled with a whole bunch of people I said man I've saying this out loud so everybody came I said Jesus is here and uh he says man I know I mean he felt the presence of the Lord there so at that time man I didn't care I didn't care I said man what going on that one guy escort me from here over there he came in he says Hood in 30 minutes I'm taking you back to plunky I said you're lying to me he said no I don't lie like NE now what time was this when you this was uh a little bit after 11:30 then and he said I don't lie like I don't lie hey man I fell to my knees I was standing up and I I just my knees buckled and I fell to my knees and I was crying like a baby I kept kept my hand holding on to Mr Mr Lopez I was crying like a baby I'm just saying thank God you know thank God everything because the whole time I just felt like I felt like I wasn't living anymore I was just existing and when I got back in the view of the lights of this unit at night time I said man thank God you know no man no matter he's good or innocent shouldn't have to go through that over there because he did he Tak a to on everybody know it is it really it really just takes everything out of you I mean you feel like you're a't alive any more anyway and then have to go through it twice in one day and I heard there's nobody else that done that before do you have any messages for your brother or for Ellis hey first off uh just keep the faith Mr 's keep working on me you're a heck of attorney I don't care if they do kill me you're a fighter you know it's Mr GRE and other people don't listen to nobody what it says just keep figh you know to my brother I love you more than words man I to get my life for you any day just uh just keep walking by faith and I love you

Channel: texasmonthly

Views: 278,945

Keywords: texas, death, row, charles, dean, hood, appeal, michael, hall, monthly

Id: BiVRF-frZ-8

Length: 19min 26sec (1166 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 28 2008