DERRICK O’NEAL MASON (EXECUTED ON SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 IN ALABAMA) [CHRISTIAN ARTICLE FOR THE DEATH PENALTY~ SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013 TO SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2013]

          On this date, September 22, 2011, Derrick O'Neal Mason was executed by lethal injection in Alabama for the March 24, 1994 murder of 25-year-old Angela Michele Cagle. I am satisfied that he apologized and repented of his crime to the family and he became a Christian. That is why I do not believe that the death penalty is nothing but revenge, the family members of Angela Cagle forgave him but he still had to be punished. 

Derrick O'Neal Mason

Angela Cagle

INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/mason1270.htm

Final/Special Meal:
Declined.

Final Words:
Mason apologized to the victim's family for the "hurt and pain" he caused, and thanked the victim's father for getting in touch years ago and granting him his forgiveness.

Internet Sources:
Alabama Department of Corrections
DOC#: Z582
Inmate: Derrick O'neal Mason
Gender: M
Race: B
DOB: 8/9/1974
Prison Holman
Received: 8/25/1995
Charge: MURDER
County: Madison

Summary: 25-year-old Angela Cagle worked as a clerk in a Huntsville convenience store. Mason entered the store in the early morning, directing Cagle to a backroom at gunpoint. Accordng to Mason, he was trying to force her to tell him how to turn off the camera when he ordered her to take her clothes off. He then shot her in the face twice with a handgun. Mason claimed the first shot just went off, and the second shot was to keep her from identifying him. He then opened the cash register and fled. A few days after the murder, an unidentified man later told police that Mason committed the crime. The informant described the gun used, told police that Mason was "out of control" and "trying to make a name for himself," and then led authorities to Mason's car. Inside, police found a gun later determined to be the murder weapon. After he was arrested, Mason confessed to committing the murder. The jury voted 10-2 to sentence him to death, a recommendation the trial court accepted.

Derrick Mason apologized to Angela Cagle's mother while strapped to a prison gurney before he was executed Thursday night for the 1994 slaying of Cagle at a Huntsville convenience store.

"I would like to apologize to Mrs. Cagle's mother for the pain I caused her," Mason, 37, said minutes before a lethal dose of drugs began flowing into his veins.

Four Mason family members and a family friend leaned on each other as they witnessed the procedure. Mason told them in his last statement to remember the Bible verse Joshua 1:9.

The verse reads: "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."