Michael Graczyk has been a reporter with the Associated Press for approximately 50 years, most of that time having worked in Texas (after he started his career initially in Detroit for a short time). Over the last 30 years, from the time that Texas resumed executions in 1982 in the dawn of the contemporary era of the death penalty, Mr. Graczyk has been covering death row. The execution of John Balentine on February 8, 2023 was the 581st execution to take place in Texas during the contemporary era. Mr. Graczyk reported on nearly all of these executions and witnessed 450 of them himself. Today he is (mostly) retired, yet continues to cover many of the executions that take place in Texas.
On February 9, I sat down with Michael Graczyk at his home to discuss his reflections of the 450 Texas executions that he has witnessed, including the one that had mostly recently occurred the night before we met.
Click on the short video above to hear Mr. Graczyck talk about his witnessing experiences and click on the links below to read two of the articles that have been written about his experiences serving as a witness to executions.
https://apnews.com/article/1d2ee3e84ca949bf97630b8de5c7f4c0
https://www.chron.com/news/article/Prison-portraits-from-retiring-AP-reporter-Mike-13120566.php