Benjamin Cole's Final Words Before Oklahoma Execution

Oklahoma death row inmate Benjamin Cole was executed by lethal injection on Thursday for the 2002 murder of his nine-month-old daughter Brianna Victoria Cole.

The 57-year-old inmate's last words were a two-minute long religious ramble including a prayer for Jesus "to receive my spirit" and appeals such as "choose Jesus while you still can," and "keep your eyes peeled. [...] Be ready at all times," according to The Oklahoman.

Cole also declared: "I forgive everyone that I have done wrong," as reported by journalist Sean Murphy of the Associated Press, who attended the execution.

According to what Oklahoma Department of Corrections Chief of Operations Justin Farris told reporters, Cole declined a traditional last meal and the support of a spiritual adviser, and didn't want his attorneys in the witness room.

Cole was given instead a facility religious meal consisting of a vegetarian lasagna, salad, tortilla and a fruit drink.

At 10:11 a.m. CT Cole was declared unconscious and at 10:22 a.m. CT he was pronounced dead.

Cole's execution—the second of 25 that the state of Oklahoma has scheduled through 2024—went ahead despite his defense attorneys' appeal to spare him on the claim of Cole's mental illness, which includes schizophrenia and having brain damage.

Talking to Newsweek earlier this week, his attorneys said Cole was "incapacitated by his mental illness to the point of being essentially nonfunctional," testifying to their client being in a "catatonic" state and unable to communicate effectively with them.

According to his attorneys, Cole's mental condition, exacerbated by exposure during childhood to substance abuse issues and verbal, physical and sexual abuse, had recently deteriorated to the point he was unable to understand what was happening to him.

"His own attorneys have not been able to have a meaningful interaction with him for years, and the staff who interact with him in the prison every day confirm that he cannot take care of his basic hygiene," attorney Tom Hird said, adding that Cole did not have "a rational understanding of why Oklahoma seeks to execute him."

Both Oklahoma's and U.S. constitutional law forbid the execution of someone suffering from mental illness, but Cole was found to be fully cooperating with a mental evaluation ran this July.

The evaluator who tested Cole found him to be competent to be executed, saying that "Mr. Cole does not currently evidence any substantial, overt signs of mental illness, intellectual impairment, and/or neurocognitive impairment," as reported by the Oklahoma Attorney General John O'Connor in September.

In a statement to Newsweek, O'Connor confirmed that the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals determined that the judge's decision "was supported by the evidence."

Cole was given a death sentence in 2004 for murdering his nine-month-old daughter on December 20, 2002, at their home in Claremore, where the man broke her spine by bending her backward in her crib after the baby's cries had interrupted his playing a video game. Brianna Victoria Cole died of massive internal bleeding as Cole went back to playing his video game.

In a taped confession to the police at the time of his arrest, Cole admitted he caused his daughter's fatal injuries and said he would "regret his actions for the rest of his life," his clemency petition said.

Before his trial, Cole refused a plea deal that would have resulted in a life sentence without parole, telling his attorneys that it was "God's will" and "his story [...] would transform Rogers County, and it would allow God to touch hearts and allow Benjamin to walk away from it all a free man."

At the time, Cole hadn't been yet diagnosed with schizophrenia, but his attorneys said this kind of religious delusions made him irrational.

Previous to receiving the death sentence for Brianna Victoria Cole's death, Cole had served time in prison for aggravated child abuse of his son from his first marriage.