Washington state executes Westley Allan Dodd by hanging (first legal hanging in America since 1965).
American serial killer and child molester. His execution (which was performed at his own request) on January 5, 1993 was the first legal hanging in the United States since 1965.
During his trial in Clark County Superior Court, the prosecution read aloud excerpts of Dodd's diary and displayed the photographs of Lee Iseli. The defense did not call any witnesses or present any evidence, suggesting only that Dodd must be legally insane. Prosecutors requested the death penalty, and the jury agreed. Dodd would claim that speaking in his own defense was pointless, and ultimately "the system had failed repeatedly". He stated that he would like to die by hanging, and that he was willing to die if "it brought peace to the victims' families".
Dodd was sentenced to death in 1990 for stabbing to death Cole Neer and his brother William near a Vancouver, Washington park in 1989, as well as for the separate rape and murder of Lee Iseli.