A man who admitted killing 17 people during a 21-day rampage across Arizona and California apologized for the slayings moments before he was executed.
Douglas Edward Gretzler died by lethal injection Wednesday in the state's first daytime execution, a move intended to keep judges from having to consider appeals in the middle of the night.Gretzler, 47, had been on death row since Nov. 15, 1976 - longer than any other Arizona inmate - for the Nov. 3, 1973, slayings of Marine Capt. Michael Sandberg and his wife, Patricia, at their Tucson condominium.
The couple were hogtied with twine for hours while Gretzler and an accomplice ate dinner. They then shot the Sandbergs in the head and stole their car, cash and credit cards.