A man slated to be put to death on Thursday for the repeated rape and eventual murder of a Chilton County woman in 2010 is dropping all of his appeals ahead of his scheduled lethal injection, saying he believes in an "eye for an eye."
James Osgood, 55, was convicted of two counts of murder for the 2010 murder of Tracy Brown. The murder charges were made capital because it was committed during the course of first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy. He is scheduled for lethal injection on Thursday.
Osgood has attempted appeals in the past. In one instance, Osgood claimed that, although he signed a form waiving her Miranda Rights before confessing to police, his confession was unconstitutionally entered into evidence because he had previously invoked his right to counsel.
However, in a phone interview with the Associated Press from prison, Osgood said he was forgoing any further attempts with his death coming in a matter of days.
"The reason I dropped my appeals is I am guilty of murder," James Osgood told the outlet. "I'm a firm believer in, like I said in court, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I took a life, so mine was forfeited. I don't believe in sitting here and wasting everybody's time and everybody's money."
"I would like to say to the victim's family, I apologize, Osgood continued. "I'm not going to ask their forgiveness because I know they can't give it."
Gov. Kay Ivey set the 36-hour execution window to begin at midnight on Thursday and expire at 6:00 a.m. on Friday. She also stated she has no plans to exercise the right to clemency in the case. The execution will take place at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.
According to court records, Osgood confessed to repeatedly raping and eventually killing Brown with the assistance of his girlfriend, Tonya Vandyke.
Records state that Osgood and Vandyke had discussed murder, kidnapping and torture fantasies with one another and eventually decided on Brown as their victim. Osgood, Brown and Vandyke went running errands on Oct.13, 2010. Once inside Brown's trailer, Osgood choked Brown from behind until she was nearly unconscious.
Both Osgood and Vandyke then took Brown into the bedroom, where the pair forced Brown to perform multiple sex acts. Osgood repeatedly raped Brown and forced her to perform sex acts on himself and Vandyke, including while Brown was using the bathroom.
Brown unsuccessfully attempted escape before Osgood caught her, brought her back to the bedroom and continued the sexual assault.
Osgood then took a knife out of his sock and cut Brown on the side of her neck in an attempt to cut her jugular vein. Court records say he told detectives that he began to get scared because Brown was not dying fast enough. Osgood admitted that he then stabbed Brown in the back and continued to cut her throat. Records further claim Osgood apologized to Brown, telling her it "was nothing against her" and that she just "needed to quit fighting and just let go."
The jury in Osgood's case unanimously recommended the death penalty. Vandyke received a life sentence in 2015 for her role.
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