Alabama Inmate Seeks Death Penalty, Cites 'An Eye For An Eye'

“The reason I dropped my appeals is I am guilty of murder,” James Osgood told The Associated Press in an telephone interview from prison.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A man on Alabama’s death row wants his execution to go forward this week, saying he believes in an “eye for an eye.”

“The reason I dropped my appeals is I am guilty of murder,” James Osgood told The Associated Press in an telephone interview from prison. “I’m a firm believer in, like I said in court, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I took a life so mine was forfeited. I don’t believe in sitting here and wasting everybody’s time and everybody’s money.”

Osgood, 55, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday at his south Alabama prison. He’s one of only a small number of inmates on U.S. death rows to abandon their legal challenges. He also said he doesn’t want opponents of the death penalty protesting under his name.

Osgood was condemned to die for the 2010 killing of Tracy Lynn Brown in Chilton County. Prosecutors said Osgood cut her throat after he and his girlfriend sexually assaulted her. Osgood told the AP that he wants to apologize — to Brown’s family, and to his own — but he realizes the words are inadequate.

“I would like to say to the victim’s family, I apologize, Osgood said. “I’m not going to ask their forgiveness because I know they can’t give it.”