Final words of double murderer who took own life
ONE of America’s most notorious killers committed suicide by hanging in his cell on Sunday – leaving behind a chilling account of his life on Death Row.
Scott Dozier, 48, murdered two men. He severed the head of one victim and is thought to have buried it in concrete in Nevada.
Before he died, Dozier left a shocking summary for the Mirror of his thoughts on his fellow prisoners, his granddaughter and his crimes.
In a series of interviews, he dictated the piece below to respected documentary maker Paul Martin.
At no stage did he indicate he was planning to take his own life.
Dozier had stopped appealing his sentence and demanded the State execute him for the separate killings of drug-trade associates in 2002 in Phoenix and Las Vegas.
He killed Jeremiah Miller, 22, leaving his decapitated and dismembered body in a suitcase.
And he shot 26-year-old Jasen “Griffin” Green in the head. His body was found in a shallow grave.
Dozier, who was held at Ely State Prison, Nevada, was due to be executed later this year after a long legal wrangle, but took his own life instead – cruelly taking the secrets of his victims’ deaths to his grave.
MY life is no longer worth living. I cannot move five yards without some a***hole telling me where to go or not go. There are 48 cells for 48 of us on Death Row, and I have to live around murderers, talking about the finer points of raping someone.
I was convicted in Nevada of killing a 22-year-old man and cutting up his body.
This man was a fellow criminal.
Society now treats me the same as those f***ing monsters.
By the time you read this, I will almost certainly be dead [by execution]. Some say I’m courageous, others that I’m a coward.
Unlike me, there are people on Death Row fighting tooth and nail to stay alive.
One old guy’s been here since 1979. I’m the only one putting himself up on the chopping block.
I’ve had to continue to smile and be courteous to people I consider reprehensible.
I have a granddaughter, just turned two. But I’ve refused to see her – ever.
I remember my wonderful grandfather and I don’t want my granddaughter to know her grandfather only across a prison table. That
Scott Dozier wanted to be executed. Below, Ely State Prison would be heart-wrenching. A grandfather-grandchild relationship should be interactive and cool.
But I cannot show her anything like I experienced – exploring cars and exploring trees, and that sort of thing.
When I’m dead, I’d rather she imagines who I am, not remembers me as that man she had to meet inside a jail. I’ve explained to my family I’d rather be dead than this and my family believe me. It’s like having cancer, I’ve told them, and not wanting treatment.
I hate the claims in court hearings that I turned out this way because I was abused as a child, or there were suicides in the family. (My favourite grandfather did kill himself.)
I take responsibility for my own actions. And, actually, I had quite a decent childhood, then a short spell to discover what comes next. Probably nothing.
I did everything possible to make sure the State of Nevada would kill me – but I did not like the way it proposed using dubious fatal drugs.
Rather than be strapped to a gurney and injected, I’d far prefer to have been shot by a firing squad and be able to look the executioner right in the eye.
A firing squad is definitive and it’s cheap.
Yes, in here, I can do my art and watercolours. Yes, on most days, I can make a couple of phone calls and listen to heavy metal.
Occasionally, I give myself a haircut and I work-out.
But that’s not a life. What I miss is an endless list.
I cannot have any intimate relationships. Everything in my life is a bare minimum.
Now my last moments are arriving. But I will not be saying much – whatever the means is that I exit this world. I’m not going to give anyone the satisfaction of telling what really happened when these two guys died.
I don’t owe it to the State and I don’t owe it to the two men I’ve been convicted of killing.
I do feel genuine sorrow, though, for these men’s families.
The State has the right to kill me – if you f*** with some entity bigger than you, you get f**ked. I chose to live outside the law.
Ever since high school, I chose to make money, which they say is the root of all evil, by selling drugs. That gave me freedom to pursue my lifestyle.
You may find it hard to believe, but I’ve always had a strict moral code.
It’s important to me that no one’s ever accused me of killing children or women, only other criminals.
When you are operating outside the law, you have to act disproportionately to others who also operate outside the law. It’s the only way to protect yourself.
What bothers me is the State claimed I had stolen $12,000 that he’d brought to buy some drugs.
Not true. I would never steal. I’m not even sure why I’m doing this final piece. I’m not campaigning for any reforms.
Nothing is going to change. But I do know this – I’ve never been one to hide or cower.
I believe you must stand on your feet, not live on your knees. Now
I, Scott Dozier, say: Let’s get it done. Goodbye. SCOTT DOZIER TALKING ABOUT HIS LIFE AND HIS CRIMES in the US army and a short marriage. There’s a photo in my Death Row cell of me with a beret, and my young wife.
I accept the unknown of death rather than the known of this life.
I may just be walking myself into a sh**storm, but I’ve always been one to walk toward things. I’m told there could be great things after death. Although I’m an atheist, I’m excited
You may find it hard to believe, but I’ve always had a strict moral code