Associated Press Reporter Michael Graczyk, Who Witnessed More Than 400 Executions, Retires

Michael Graczyk (pictured), who witnessed more than 400 executions as an Associated Press reporter in Texas, has retired after nearly 46 years with the news service. On March 14, 1984, Texas executed James Autry—the second person put to death in Texas since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state’s capital punishment statute in 1976. According to a non-exhaustive list of execution witnesses maintained by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, it was the first of at least 429 executions Graczyk witnessed in the nation’s most prolific death-penalty state. Graczyk is believed to have witnessed more executions in the U.S. than any other person: no other reporter or corrections official in Texas has seen as many executions, and no other state has executed even one-third as many prisoners. In his 34 years observing executions, Graczyk was committed to telling the full story behind the case, interviewing death-row prisoners if they were willing, and speaking to victims’ families, lawyers, and prison officials. He said the volume of executions in Texas was surprising: “I talked to inmates on death row at the time, and some of them had foreseen that once the ball got rolling the state would be very aggressive. But I don’t think anybody could have foreseen the numbers.” His conversations with prisoners also revealed some of their thinking, including one insight that raises questions about the death penalty’s effect as a deterrent: “Despite Texas’ notoriety as this center of capital punishment, so many inmates I talked to told me they didn’t know or weren’t aware of the death penalty in Texas,” Graczyk said. Noreen Gillespie, the Associated Press’s deputy managing editor for U.S. news, described the critical role that Graczyk played in witnessing executions, saying, “Mike’s description of what happens in an execution is how the world and most of the country knows how that happens.” Graczyk’s retirement on July 31, 2018 does not mark the end of the line for his execution coverage. He will continue to cover Texas executions for the AP as a freelance reporter.

(Nomaan Merchant, AP reporter who observed 400+ executions in Texas retires, Associated Press, July 30, 2018; Keri Blakinger, After covering more than 400 executions, AP’s Graczyk calls it quits, Houston Chronicle, July 30, 2018; Photo by David J. Phillip, Associated Press.) See Texas.