BONNE TERRE, Mo., Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin said he's ready to accept "the will of the Lord," as he faces lethal injection at a Missouri prison Wednesday.
Franklin, who is estimated to have killed 22 people to start a "race war" in America, told CNN in a death row interview he hopes to earn a stay of execution from the courts but is also ready to die.
Asked if he thought it was strange to know the precise date and time of his death, Franklin said he's resigned.
"Well I'm hoping to get a stay," he said "It might not happen, but if it does, I'm willing to accept the will of the Lord."
Franklin is serving numerous life sentences and was ordered put to death for the Oct. 8, 1977 killing of Gerald Gordon outside a bar mitzvah ceremony in St. Louis. Franklin, whose birth name is James Clayton Vaughn, shot Gordon with a sniper rifle, killing him in front of his wife, their children and the 200 other guests at the synagogue.
Franklin also admitted to shooting Hustler magazine founder Larry Flynt because his magazine featured an interracial couple.
"I saw that interracial couple he had, photographed there, having sex," he said, referring to the December 1975 issue of Hustler that featured several photos of a black man with a white woman. "It just made me sick. I think whites marry with whites, blacks with blacks, Indians with Indians. Orientals with orientals. I threw the magazine down and thought, I'm gonna kill that guy."
He nearly succeeded. Flynt was facing an obscenity trial in Georgia when Franklin shot him twice, severely wounding him and paralyzing him for life.
In a strange twist, Flynt, an ardent capital punishment foe, has filed an appeal on Franklin's behalf. Flynt said he hasn't considered the fact Franklin shot him, but said the appeal is a matter of principle, not a personal gesture.
Franklin is being held at Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Mo., where he is scheduled to be die Wednesday.
