The Execution traces the life crimes, and execution of self-confessed death row murderer Clifford Boggess. Filmed over three years that led up to Boggess's Texas execution in 1998,  the program is both an examination of capital punishment and the death penalty in the U.S.  and a journey into the mind and soul of a death row killer. Some called him a psychopath; others believed he became a changed man after he got the death penalty.  FRONTLINE examines what is the truth of this death row killer.  Did it make sense to execute Clifford Boggess?  Who gains and who loses in him?
navigation, see below for text
navigation, see below for text

Support thought-provoking independent journalism like FRONTLINE by making a pledge to your local PBS station today. Support thought-provoking independent journalism like FRONTLINE by making a pledge to your local PBS station today.

the story . who was clifford boggess? . on videotape . artwork . letters . readings
discussion . tapes & transcripts . press . for educators
frontline online . wgbh . pbs online

web site copyright WGBH educational foundation

The Execution

FRONTLINE looks into the mind and soul of a death row killer and the effect of his execution on all who had a stake in it. Clifford Boggess was a pianist and artist. He was also a cold-blooded murderer. Boggess spent almost ten years on Texas' death row praying and awaiting the execution chamber. And while he prayed, the tormented families of his two victimsóbrutally slain in convenience store robberiesóimpatiently awaited the lethal injection that took his life in June 1998.

FRONTLINE's web site offers a collection of material explaining Boggess--Who was he? Should he have been executed? The site presents video of Boggess describing in brutal detail the two murders; an expert's analysis of whether Boggess fit the profile of a psychopath; the letters Boggess wrote to his victims'families; his artwork. The site also includes articles on: why Texas is the number one execution state; a history of capital punishment; a report on the speed up in habeas corpus appeals; and the best pro and con death penalty arguments by Supreme Court Justices, Pope John Paul II, legal scholars, the American Bar Association and U.S. Catholic Bishops.

published feb. 1999

SUPPORT PROVIDED BY