ATMORE, Ala. — An Alabama man who dropped his appeals and said he deserved to die for the rape and murder of a woman in 2010 was put to death Thursday evening.
James Osgood, 55, was pronounced dead at 6:35 p.m. CT following a lethal injection at a south Alabama prison, authorities said.
A jury in 2014 convicted Osgood of capital murder in the death of Tracy Lynn Brown in Chilton County. Prosecutors said Osgood cut her throat after he and his girlfriend sexually assaulted her.
Osgood recently told The Associated Press that he had dropped his appeals last year, adding, “I am guilty of murder.” In a letter to his lawyer explaining his decision to seek an execution date as soon as possible, he wrote that he was tired and no longer felt he was “even existing.”
“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 told AP.
Brown, 44, was found dead in her home on Oct. 23, 2010, after her employer became concerned when she did not show up for work.
Prosecutors said Osgood admitted to police that he and his girlfriend assaulted Brown, forcing her to perform sex acts, after discussing how they had fantasies about kidnapping and torturing someone. Then he cut her throat. His girlfriend, who was Brown’s cousin, was sentenced to life in prison.
The jury found Osgood guilty after about 40 minutes of deliberation and unanimously recommended the death sentence.
Osgood last week that said he wanted to apologize to Brown’s family but he didn’t expect her relatives to forgive him. “I regret taking her from them. I regret cutting her life short,” he said.
His initial death sentence was thrown out by an appeals court ruling that jurors were given improper instructions. At his resentencing in 2018, Osgood asked to be executed, saying he didn’t want the families to endure another hearing.
In handing down the death penalty at resentencing, the judge noted that Osgood had a difficult childhood that included sexual abuse, abandonment and a suicide attempt. But the judge also said it was Osgood who cut Brown’s neck and stabbed her as she begged the couple not to hurt her.
The execution was the second in Alabama this year and the 14th in the nation overall.
