Long Day's Journey Into Nightline

September, 1995

Just after midnight on January 17, 1995, Ted Koppel walked into the death house at the federal prison in Huntsville, Texas to witness his first execution.In the observation room Koppel saw a mildly retarded 36-year-old man who was belted to a gurney by straps across his chest and waist, thighs and shins, each ankle and both wrists. The condemned man stared out through the windows of the execution chamber. A decade earlier Mario Marquez had been convicted of raping and strangling his 14-year-old...