Robert W. Jackson III executed early Friday morning

While most of Delaware slept, a bleak chapter in the lives of a Hockessin family was finally put to rest after nearly two decades.

Robert W. Jackson III, the man convicted in the 1992 ax murder of 47-year-old Elizabeth Girardi during a botched robbery, was executed by lethal injection at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center north of Smyrna. He was pronounced dead at 12:12 a.m.

Jackson’s last meal consisted of steak, a baked potato, potato skins, corn and a soda. During his final days, he has been sleeping, eating, reading, writing letters, talking with staff, and visiting with family and his attorneys, according to the Department of Corrections.

Governor Jack Markell denied Jackson’s request for a reprieve, and two requests Wednesday by his lawyers to delay the execution went ungranted.

At 12:02 a.m. the execution began in the execution chamber. Witnesses watched Jackson, dressed in all white, strapped down to table with intravenous lines in each arm. James T. Vaughn Correctional Center Warden Perry Phelps asked Jackson if he had any last words.

Jackson at first directed his words to Christopher and Claudia – the victim’s surviving children.

“Are the Girardis in there? If you are in there, I've never faulted you for your anger. I would have been mad myself," he said. "[But] I didn’t take your mother from you.”

Jackson then hinted that his accomplice, Tony Lachette, was actually the guilty party in the case. Indeed, his lawyers argues that Lachette privately confessed to the killing to a number of people, but those claims were never corroborated by investigators.

“Tony’s laughing his ass off right now because you’re about to watch an innocent man die," Jackson said. "This isn’t justice.”

Following his statement, he put his head down, and his eyes never opened again. He breathed deeply a few times, and even began to snore. At 12:06 a.m. the curtain closed, signaling the consciousness check.

Warden Perry could be heard saying twice, "Inmate Jackson, can you hear me?"

No response came from Jackson.

The curtain was then redrawn for another few minutes as witnesses watched Jackson lay still.

When the curtain closed a final time, Jackson was pronounced dead.

Correction officials would not say whether anyone Girardi's family witnessed the execution.

Among the ten official witnesses was New Castle County Public Safety Director Scott McLaren. The ax murder was McLaren's first-ever murder investigation with the county police.

"To have that be your first homicide, an ax murder in the middle of Hockessin, was a lot of stress, but the suspect was in custody in seven days," he told the Community News in a 2009 interview.

Following Jackson’s execution, Govenor Markell issued this statement: “The State of Delaware this morning carried out the penalty for Robert W. Jackson III for the brutal murder of Elizabeth Girardi.  Mr. Jackson’s death sentence was recommended by a jury, imposed by a judge, and reviewed by state and federal appellate courts at all levels.  It is my prayer that his victim rests in peace and her family finds some closure. May God have mercy on Mr. Jackson.”

About a dozen  protesters stood outside the prison in the beating rain to oppose the death penalty, while a single woman - Townsend's Rose Wilson - stood on the opposite of the street and showed her support for the death penalty.

Geoff Sawyer, 66, from Wilmington believes that capital punishment needs to be stopped.

“The United States and Delaware condones this act of barbarism," Sawyer said. "I think Jackson should get life in prison without parole."

Wilson said Jackson deserved his fate.

“I live three miles from here and I pass here every single day," she said. "Mercy was not shown to that woman."