On Jan 8, 1990, Robert Wesley Knighton broke into the rural Oklahoma farmhouse of an elderly couple, Richard and Virginia Denney, and murdered them. He took sixty-one dollars, a pocketknife, some cigarettes, and a run-down truck. Nine months later he was sentenced to death.

This is a recording of the final clemency hearing for Knighton. In Oklahoma, a clemency hearing for a crime of this sort is little more than a formality, but this case was unusual. The only witness testifying on Knighton's behalf was Sue Norton, the daughter of the man he had murdered thirteen years ago.

Sue Norton forgave and ultimately befriended Knighton. She and her husband will witness Knighton's execution at his request on May 27, 2003. In this story, she walks us through Knighton's clemency hearing, held eight days before he was executed.

Producers: Karen Callahan and Dave Isay / Funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts. Special thanks to Anthony Cavazos.

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This piece is available in the following audio formats [5:55 min]:
		MP3

		intro
		transcript

		Knighton describes meeting Norton [RealAudio]

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