Narrative Assignment: “A Man’s Last Hours”

A man sits alone in his 5’ by 8’ cell at the San Quentin State Prison. He is old, he is tired and very soon he will die. Joe Jenkins is on death row for the murder of 4 year boy, Jacob Lear, who was found shot to death at the home of his Hollywood socialite parents. Investigators retrieved a revolver from a sewer just 2 blocks from the boy’s home. The gun was registered to Jenkins and he was arrested three days later. Besides the gun there was nothing tying Jenkins to the crime; no hair, no DNA, no nothing. Despite the lack of evidence the prosecution managed to convince the jury that Jenkins had killed the boy.

Prior to arriving at San Quentin Jenkins was a model citizen. Married with 3 children, had a good job, and for the first time in his life Jenkins was happy. He had no prior criminal record and contested his gun was stolen just days prior to the murder. He gave little reason for not reporting the gun stolen, said "it slipped his mind". His prints were the only ones on the gun and forensics found DNA tissue from Jacob on the end of the barrel where the Jenkins had pressed the gun into Jacob's head with tremendous force.

23 years later Jenkins is sitting on death row, awaiting execution. The time is 2:13 in the afternoon, execution was scheduled for midnight. “They say lethal injection is painless, but what is painless about never seeing your family again”, Jenkins thought. His family had never visited during his time at San Quentin and his wife remarried within a year of his conviction. He didn't blame her, he wanted her to be happy, but his children, how he longed to see them. "They would be 27, 29 and 30 this year, with children of their own", he thought. Oh how he missed his family.

When you’re on “the row” the only thing that can save you is a call from the governor. Considering everything that had been brought before him there was little chance of that, despite his attorney’s best efforts. He sat alone and tired and began to read a letter from Jacob’s mother written earlier that week. The pen ripped through the paper and into his chest as he read:

After reading the letter he cautiously placed it in the Bible located on the end of his bed. His rage began to stew as he meditated on the letter. The time is now 6:27. He heard footsteps coming down the corridor; they were moving at a brisk pace and stopped at his cell door. He looked up a saw a robust figure standing on the other side of the bars. Jenkins did not know the man but knew his reputation. The man was Warden Jingles. Jingles pulled out a set of keys and began opening the cell door. He stepped in the cell, closed the door and stared down at Jenkins sitting on his bed.

Jenkins had heard rumors of Jingles coming into prisoner’s cells and pistol whipping them prior to their execution. They called it a “going away party.” As Jenkins looked up he saw Jingles reaching in his corduroy blazer’s left pocket. Jenkins, boiling with anger from the letter could not stand the thought of being beat at the hands of the Warden. Jenkins leaped to his feet and seized the Warden and began slamming his head into the steel sink. By the time the guard had entered the cell and drawn his gun the Warden was dead. Jenkins set back down on his bed and stared at the large figure that lay before him. He noticed a crumpled piece of paper in Warden’s hand where he had expected the gun to have been. He took the paper and began to read.

Jenkins frantically read the words, pausing briefly at the important parts, “fully confessed to the crimes” “free of all charges” “full pardon”. What had he done? The murderer had finally, after all this time, came forward and confessed. Jenkins for the first time in his life was guilty of murder.