Audio: Before Georgia’s latest execution, killer begs for forgiveness

The gurney where William Sallie was executed sits behind glass windows in a small cinder block building at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. (Ben Gray/Staff)

The gurney where William Sallie was executed sits behind glass windows in a small cinder block building at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. (Ben Gray/Staff)

“Although Georgia may take my life, the Lord will save my soul.”

So said William Sallie Tuesday evening when he was asked to record his final statement before the state executed him for the 1990 murder of his father-in-law.

As is the practice before any lethal injection in Georgia, the condemned is given a chance to make a recorded final statement before being taken to the execution chamber and again, before witnesses, once the prisoner is strapped to the gurney.

Sallie, 50, took advantage of both opportunities, according to recordings obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

In both, Sallie said his soul had been saved and he apologized for his crimes in one of them.

Sallie was convicted in the murder of John Moore in 1990, shooting and wounding his mother-in-law Linda Moore, and kidnapping his estranged wife and her sister.

Sallie broke into his in-laws’ home in Bacon County — where his wife, Robin, and their 2-year-old son, Ryan, were sleeping — after he lost a custody battle and his wife filed for divorce.

Full coverage of Tuesday night's execution.