after robbing him, rutledge then shot the man five times, killing him instantly. $20. when rutledge arrived on death row at 22, the threat of execution pushed him to the edge. >> life on death row, to me, was a very traumatic experience. i stayed in the cell 23 hours a day. i felt lost, confused, devastated. and knowing that you're going to die, that they sent you there to die, it have an even more vicious effect on your mentality and that death was definitely next. i went through a mental stage where i like to lost my mind. >> since coming off death row, mitch rutledge has taught himself to read and write and earned his ged. now he expresses himself through his writing. >> i consider myself a poet. but i wrote this because at this particular time, it was a friend of mine being executed, and i was deeply wounded by that. and i was deeply touched. "tonight, death has been called forward once again from the world it resides in to carry out the wishes of the state of alabama in the execution of another death row inmate. death all smiles tonight. it didn't have to hun