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This answer may contain sensitive images. Click on an image to unblur it.INTRODUCTIONJoe Arridy was born in Pueblo, Colorado on April 29, 1915 to Henry and Mary Arridy.Unfortunately, little is known about his mother. We also know very little about his brother George, other than that he was born in 1923 and was classified as ‘midly retarded’.On the other hand, we have some information regarding both Henry and Amelia — his sister.Henry Arridy was born on June 15, 1885 in an unknown location within modern-day Syria.As a young man, Henry and Mary decided to leave for North America in hopes of finding better employment opportunities. They departed in 1909, and Henry found a job as a steel factory worker at the Colorado Fuels and Iron Works. The family was never financially stable, because Arridy — like many others during this period — were being regularly laid off.Credit: Forgotten HistoryAbove: Colorado Fuel And Iron Works — Circa 1910Henry was then forced to take Joe out of school after just one year when the principal declared him an academically lost cause (his reported IQ was 46). Seeing as his financial situation was dire, and with a second child now in the picture, Joe was sent by his father to the State Home Training School for Mental Defectives in Grand Junction, Colorado.Even there, Joe was disliked enough that other children ostracised him. Sometimes they even beat him up.Credit: Forgotten HistoryAbove: State Home Training For Mental DefectivesOn September 17, 1929, fourteen-year-old Joe Arridy was reportedly corners by a group of Black juveniles and forced to performed sodomy and other sexual acts. A nearby probation officer happened to see the incident, and Joe Arridy was brought back to the school, where he would remain until his adult years. Only once, for a brief period of time, was Joe allowed to stay home with his parents, because his father was now financially better off and had wanted his son to come back home, though this was ultimately turned down by the courts.http://friendsofjoearridy.com/chronology/By the time he was twenty-one, Joe — with no friends or close connections — decided to leave Colorado and move north to Cheyenne, Wyoming. On his way there, the train rode through Pueblo, Colorado, where the infamous Drain murder case that would later implicate him was shortly to take place.On August 20, he had begged the owners of a local restaurant for employment in exchange for food. Glenn Gibson and her husband agreed, and for nearly a week, Joe washed dishes in exchange for room and board. Glenn brought Joe back to the Cheyenne train station, where he was soon afterwards arrested by two detectives for vagrancy.Credit: Laramie CountyAbove: Sheriff George CarrollGeorge Carroll was the sheriff in the area at the time, and he was known for going to the press to make a big name out of himself. As soon as he heard that Joe was from Colorado, he took him in for questioning. Joe then confirmed that he had been through Pueblo with three other guys just days earlier, and so George did everything he could to try and get a confession. The interrogation lasted for ninety minutes, and by its conclusion, George claimed that Joe had confessed to the Drain murder case.The interrogation lasted for ninety minutes, and Carroll concluded that Joe Arridy was completely incompetent at everything (including reading and writing) except for giving details about the two crime scenes in question.Meanwhile, back in Colorado, a thirty-five-year-old Mexican immigrant by the name of Frank Aguilar was already in custody in Pueblo after being accused of the same crimes.On August 2, 1936, fifty-eight-year-old R.O. McMurtree and seventy-two-year-old Sally Crumpling were sleeping in their beds when an intruder broke in with a hammer and repeatedly bludgeoned their heads. McMurtree would survive the attack, though Crumpling would not.On August 14, 1936, an even more sinister attack took place only three blocks from the previous crime scene.Credit: AmazonAbove: Dorothy DrainThis time, two girls — Dorothy Drain (15) and her sister Barbara (12) — were asleep when they were attacked with a hatchet by an intruder breaking through their bedroom window. Barbara survived the attack, though Dorothy was reportedly raped before another blow finished her off.Needless to say, Joe Arridy’s alleged confession was of great interest to Arthur Grady, the sheriff in Pueblo county, who had been convinced that with the arrest of Frank Aguilar, the case had been solved.Only weeks before the killing spree started, Frank — who was a former employee of Riley Drain — had been fired and reportedly swore vengeance.District Attorney French Taylor — who was to prosecute Joe Arridy in the pre-trial — drove to Cheyenne with two detectives and promptly brought Joe back to Colorado for trial.While in custody, Joe reportedly blurted out Frank Aguilar’s name, and this was enough to implicate Joe as being a willing accomplice in the Drain murder case. The case involving McMurtree and Crumpling was never formally prosecuted, even though it was widely believed even back then that both murder scenes were carried out by the same individual.Credit: Find A GraveAbove: Frank AguilarOn September 2, 1936, Frank confessed to the murder while being interrogated by French Taylor. Frank also stated that Joe had wilfully tagged along with him after Frank allegedly recruited Joe, because the latter had been institutionalised as a “sexual deviant”, a label he received after the probation officer had witnessed the sodomy acts.In Frank’s version of the story, he was the one who carried out the bludgeoning, while Joe was the one who raped Dorothy. Apparently, Riley Drain and his wife were away that night, and the two waited in a nearby bush until it was dark before carrying out the crime.Frank was prosecuted by French Taylor and sentenced to death.His execution was carried out on August 13, 1937.Credit: Wyoming Tales And TrailsAbove: Union Pacfic Deport — The Site Of Joe Arridy’s Arrest — Circa 1900TRIAL OF JOE ARRIDYThe trial of Joe Arridy began sometime in February 1937. The first phase of the trial was to determine whether or not Joe was legally sane. At first, there was strong doubt as to whether or not Joe could even be sentenced to death, given that he had a strong case for the insanity defence.Joe Arridy was represented by Fred Bernard, who brought in three psychiatrists to testify on his defence. Initially, these psychiatrists had been hired by District Attorney French Taylor to determine Joe’s sanity, and all of them concluded that Joe was legally incompetent.Twenty-two questions were then forwarded to Joe by Fred while Judge Harry Leddy observed.Joe was asked various questions, such as whether or not he had heard of Franklin Roosevelt (the president at the time). Joe gave no answer. Joe also acknowledged that he could only write his name. All of these questions helped solidify the case that Joe could not be legally tried.Nonetheless, District Attorney Ralph Neary — French Taylor’s successor in the case — brought in George Carroll.Credit: Denver Public LibraryAbove: Canon City Penitentiary Death Row In The 1930sThe sheriff was obviously not going to acknowledge the insanity plea. Rather, George proceeded to talk about how he was a top notch expert in criminal psychology and said that Joe was simply manipulating the law to his advantage.Ralph also decided to counter Joe’s insanity defence with questions of his own.Some of them included whether Joe liked to do anything he wanted to do, and whether or not he found girls attractive.Joe affirmed these questions, and with George’s claim of manipulation, the insanity defence was thrown out.The Murder of Joe Arridy — Forgotten HistoryIn fact, Henry Arridy — Joe Arridy’s father — was so upset at the legal outcome that he fell over and died just days later on February 24, 1937 at the age of fifty-one.Henry Arridy (1885-1937) - Find A Grave MemorialCredit: Pueblo County CourthouseOn April 12, 1937, the main trial began with the prosecution attempting to prove Joe’s sanity, as well as an accomplice in the Drain murder.At trial, Saul Kahn testified for the prosecution. He claimed that Joe had bought a handgun under the name “Joseph Arridy” at around the time of the murders. Bernard asked Kahn how this was possible, seeing as Joe could not count money. Saul could give no answer. (The handgun was also never located.)A toxicologist from Denver was also hired for the prosecution, and he said that with 250:1 odds, the hair sample recovered from the Drain crime scene belonged to Joe. Bernard, however, questioned the legitimacy of this find, because the hair was not recovered until nearly two weeks after the murder, when Joe had been arrested.It is also worth mentioning that Barbara Drain, who had testified against Frank Aguilar at trial, never claimed that more than one person was involved. As a matter of fact, French Taylor — who prosecuted Frank during his trial — never even brought up Joe Arridy or anybody else as a potential accomplice.Credit: AmazonAbove: Dorothy DrainThe defence was now tasked with disproving the allegations against Joe.Bernard hired Benjamin Jefferson, who was a psychiatrist and also the superintended of the mental ward that Arridy had been incarcerated in. Just like the other three psychiatrists — who all repeated their findings from the first trial — Benjamin concluded that Joe was legally insane.In the end, even this could not save Joe, because George Carroll had once again taken it upon himself to inform the jury that Joe was deceiving them, and that he was very capable of the actions committed.Unlike Frank, who was found guilty by a jury in only twenty-eight minutes, the jury in Joe’s case deliberated for nearly four hours before they came back with the same verdict.On April 13, 1937, Judge Harry Leddy came to the conclusion that a commutation of sentence would not be appropriate for the crime that Joe was convicted of and was sentenced to death in the state’s gas chamber.Credit: Denver Public LibraryWHY DID JOE ARRIDY RECEIVE THE DEATH PENALTY?I have a personal theory on why Joe Arridy was executed (and I say “personal” because it is obviously hard to prove a case outright more than eight decades later).First, it should be remembered that historically speaking, Colorado was one of the first states in American history to abolish the death penalty — having done so between 1897–1901.Capital punishment in Colorado - WikipediaUltimately, Colorado reinstated it because many lynch mobs did not approve of ending its abolition, especially when it involved cases of people raping and murdering children. This resulted in the burning of sixteen-year-old Preston Porter Junior in Limon, Colorado on November 16, 1900.Credit: TwitterAbove: Illustrated Depiction Of Preston Porter Junior’s ExecutionThe Murder of Preston Porter Jr. and Colorado's Grim History of LynchingsThe death penalty was initially reinstated in Colorado in order to appease to lynch mobs, though the first executions after the death penalty’s reintroduction in Colorado were not carried out until 1905.DeathPenaltyUSA, the database of executions in the United StatesOne of the reasons why lynch mobs were common in places without a death penalty was due to the leniency most jurisdictions offered for those given an alternative sentence. For instance, in Colorado, the average time someone spent serving a life sentence during this era was approximately eight years, meaning that upwards of half of all lifers were released even sooner than eight years. In fact, the average life sentence nationwide was slightly shorter, at approximately eight years.Credit: Soap BoxieColorado was far from the exception to the rule.Here are some other states — excluding those who did not reinstate the death penalty — that abolished the death penalty before Furman v. GeorgiaKansas: 1907–1935 (last execution carried out in 1878, and first execution after reinstatement carried out in 1944)South Dakota: 1915–1939Missouri: 1917–1919Oregon: 1914–1920 and again from 1964–1978 (of note is that in both cases, the death penalty was abolished after a referendum found that a slight majority of citizen’s favoured its abolition)Arizona: 1916–1918Washington: 1913–1919Iowa: 1872–1878Tennessee: (All death sentences suspended from 1913–1915). Between 1915–1919, the death penalty was outlawed in the state, except for those previously been convicted of rape and/or murder from a previous offence.States with the Death Penalty and States with Death Penalty Bans - Death Penalty - ProCon.orgWhether you think these laws are agreeable is irrelevant more than five generations later. Lynch mobs from that period were not willing to let somebody convicted of raping and murdering somebody out of prison in as little as five years.Credit: Denver Public LibraryAbove: Canon City Penitentiary — Where Joe Arridy Was Imprisoned — Circa 1900https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=6749&context=jclcGoing back to Joe Arridy, I think that there were two, possibly three, main reasons why Colorado had him killed, rather than giving him the alternative prison sentence:A high-profile case such as his was far less likely to be dealt leniently, due to how short a life sentence was during this era.Since the law of the 1930s would have regarded somebody with autism as “retarded”, Joe Arridy would have undoubtedly been subjected to lobotmisation had his life been spared. There is a high chance that he would have been so incapacitated that he would have spent the rest of his life living in isolation in a vegetative state.Credit: WkipediaAbove: Doctors Studying The Brain Of A Lobotomy Patient — Circa 1930In that regard, I almost think that death was the more dignified outcome.Lobotomisation was never a legal option for offenders who did not have a mental illness or disorder, though it would have been mandatory for someone convicted of a crime like Arridy’s to be subjected to this type of procedure, once his mental disorder came to light.Many states at the time even forced those not convicted of a crime to go through with lobotomisation if their parent, spouse, or family doctor requested it. That is what became of Rosemary Kennedy (John Kennedy’s sister), after her father lobotomised her, because he thought that she was too “stupid”, and he did not want her sabotaging his sons’ political careers. She ended up spending the rest of her life in an institution, and even her surviving family members did not come to see her until decades after she had been incarcerated.Credit: The New York TimesAbove: Rosemary Kennedy (Right) Before Being LobotomisedRosemary Kennedy - WikipediaP.S. The third possibility is that Judge Harry Leddy did not even think of the second possibility, and that he was just a grumpy old grouch who chose to go with the harsher of the two legal sentences. (We don’t know, since he is long dead, and his afterthoughts are not publicly available.)Such a system of disproportionality was one of the reasons why Furman v. Georgia later became a landmark decision in the USA. Many juries who may have opted with a prison sentence were not willing to do so if gave a person convicted of first degree murder the opportunity to leave prison after five years.Starting in the 1940s, many states introduced minimum sentences for those serving life sentences. Colorado imposed its minimum period at ten years. With good behaviour, a prisoner could have one day deducted for every day of good behaviour — making them parole eligible within five years. Since the murders in question took place on August 14, 1936, this would not have applied in Joe Arridy’s case. Nonetheless, it gives a good perspective regarding how prisoners sentenced to life for capital murder were treated.Credit: Restless Native BloggerAbove: Joe Arridy Interacting In His Cell With Warden Roy BestAccording to the Colorado Department of Corrections, this is the minimum time one had to serve in prison before being released (NOTE: There is no good behaviour law for offenders convicted of crimes after July 1, 1977.)If you committed an offence before July 1, 1977: TEN YearsIf you committed an offence after July 1, 1977 and before July 1, 1985: TWENTY YearsIf you committed an offence after July 1, 1985 and before July 1, 1990: FORTY YearsIf you committed an offence after July 1, 1990: LIFE WITHOUT PAROLEhttps://spl.cde.state.co.us/artemis/crserials/cr110014internet/cr110014200209internet.pdfContrary to popular belief, the modern legal system — as the above information shows — is in fact much harsher overall than it was in previous generations, and this is just as true for most industrialised countries as it is for the United States. The only difference, is that the United States has since taken its “tough on crime” approach to an even greater extreme.Credit: Q Costa RicaLUIS MONGEColorado would also be the last state to carry out an execution before Furman v. Georgia. On June 2, 1967, Luis Monge was executed after being caught by his wife having sex with Teresa, his eleven month old daughter. In order to hide the act, he had his wife beaten to death with a steel bar. Afterwards, he took out a knife and stabbed Teresa to death. Two of his sons, Alan (6), and Vincent (4) were also killed for being witnesses to the crime. He caught Vincent first and had him choked to death with his hands. He then beat Alan to death with the same steel bar he had used to kill his wife.Once the murders were carried out, Monge changed his mind and called the police and confessed everything. Just days before his execution, Monge’s seven surviving children — who had asked the state not to kill their father — had a Mexican meal in his cell.Luis Monge would not be executed for the same crime today, because Colorado formally outlawed the death penalty on July 1, 2020. Nonetheless, he would also have no chance of ever getting out of prison, either. By contrast, had his sentence been commuted on appeal, he may have been out of prison before Furman v. Georgia was even decided, just five years after his execution.Luis Monge (mass murderer) - WikipediaOffenders convicted of multiple murders — especially those involving children and/or where sexual acts were involved — have always been more likely to receive the death penalty when compared to other cases of first degree murder. However, modern Colorado law also mandates that even those who would never have gotten the death penalty to be made to serve out their natural lives — the same sentence Luis Monge would receive today.Credit: 5280Above: Aerial View Of ADX FlorenceMODERN SENTENCING FOR JUVENILES AND THOSE WITH DISABILITIESWhile very few people in Arridy’s case face the death penalty today, this may be due to stiffer prison guidelines, as opposed to our system being more humane. For every Joe Arridy who was executed, there were undoubtedly at least ten who were given a prison sentence, though we are less likely to know about them because offenders who are not sentenced to death are not given the same attention.Most prisoners did not have a mental disability, so they would never have been sentenced to lobotomisation. Quite ironically, this could have been one of the reasons why Joe Arridy was executed. Leaving a prisoner in a vegetative state in a mental asylum for the rest of his or her life was arguably worse than executing them. They also would not have been able to gain financial indepence — unlike prisoners not suffering from mental health issues — and all of these would have contributed in an increased likelihood that somebody with autism would have faced the electric chair, gas chamber, hanging, or firing squad.Since 1642, there have been 364 documented cases of children being executed on American soil. More than half of these executions took place before the American War of Independence, and 22 of these took place after Furman v. Georgia.Meanwhile, Pennsylvania alone currently has more than 500 juveniles serving life without parole sentences. Since 1941, lifers in this particular state have needed approval from the governor in order to be freed. Even though lifers in Pennsylvania were being routinely released after serving approximately twelve years, this policy abruptly stopped after Milton Shapp (who had released 251 lifers as governor) left office in 1979.https://www.law.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/CACL%20Clemency%20PA_Accessible.pdfCredit: WikipediaUntil as recently as 2012, the number of juveniles serving life without parole sentences may have been as high as 5,000. It has since been slashed in half after a Supreme Court ruling on June 25, 2012 declared mandatory life sentences against juveniles to be unconstitutional. Several states, such as Massachusetts, now allow all juveniles to apply for parole after fifteen years. Meanwhile, other states, where life without parole against juveniles is no longer imposed, still require minimum sentences of 25–50+ years. Most states still allow life without parole as a sentencing option for juveniles, and despite the 2012 Supreme Court ruling, few juveniles have been spared from serving out the rest of their lives in prison. Despite the significantly higher number of juveniles serving life sentences — in contrast to the comparably smaller number of those executed — you rarely hear about them, since it does not get the same public scrutiny the way a juvenile execution would.That is why the case of George Stinney is well remembered. Even back then, his case was deemed controversial, because most states at the time required that an offender be at least fourteen in order to be tried as an adult. Some have argued that George Stinney was in fact thirteen, even though the courts determined that he was born on October 21, 1929, which would have made him fourteen. South Carolina — like several other states at the time — had also not formally ratified their laws, so the execution was deemed legal, regardless of Stinney’s age.While race and income may have played a role in George Stinney’s execution — a debatable argument, due to what he was being accused of, added by the fact that his case is known today for being the exception, rather than the norm — there were three aggravating factors that sent him to death row:George Stinney was convicted of two murdersGeorge Stinney was accused of kidnapping/raping his victimsGeorge Stinney’s victims were children (never mind the fact that he was himself a child)Credit: LA TimesWhether George Stinney was innocent or not is immaterial.The crimes he was being accused of committing were far graver than most murders. Even a White juvenile from a privileged background would have stood a good chance of being executed for what George Stinney was being accused of, so I don’t agree that race alone was the reason for his execution.The three aggravating factors in his case also just happen to be what Joe Arridy was convicted of.Just like Stinney, Joe Arridy was accused of killing two females (an elderly lady and child) in their bedrooms, and sexually assaulted the latter.Had even one of these aggravating factors been absent in the case of either Stinney or Arridy, it is statistically unlikely that they would have been executed.Credit: West Word“THE HAPPIEST MAN ON DEATH ROW”While the reason behind Joe Arridy’s execution will never be known, he was regarded as “The Happiest Man on Death Row” by newspaper reporters of that period.Joe spent much time with the warden, Roy Best, who was born on March 2, 1900 in Canon City, Colorado, not far from the penitentiary where Joe was destined to spend his final days. was known for playing with toy trains donated to him by Roy Best. Several years later, Roy Best would star as himself in the 1948 film noir film Canon City. The plot involved twelve prisoners who were preparing to escape, though one of them proved reluctant to go through with it.Credit: Canon City Daily RecordAbove: Roy Best Speaking With An InmateIn later years, Best would stir controversy for his draconian punishments against prisoners who violated any prison rules. For instance, he enforced a rule that punished prisoners caught in the act of sodomy (or buggery) to be subjected to forced labour by breaking rocks while being dressed as a woman. Furthermore, he was also called the “Old Gray Mare” because of his relentless flogging policies against prisoners convicted of any infraction. Eventually, these acts came to light, and upon being brought to trial — where he was also found to have embezzled some money — Roy’s license as a warden was suspended for two days. He would die from a heart attack on May 27, 1954, just three days before his license suspension was due to end.Credit: Denver Public LibraryAbove: Roy Best Boasting On The Telephone While Holding A Newspaper Regarding His AcquittalDespite being a very ruthless warden, it appears that Roy was not one to abuse his power against those he deemed to be well-behaved. The warden grew fond of Joe, and in turn it appears that Joe loved him. Roy was a firm believer in the death penalty for those convicted of first degree murder, but he was also equally against executing those whose guilt was in doubt.Credit: Forgotten HistoryAbove: Gail IrelandThis prompted Roy to invest his own money in hiring Gail Ireland, who was a high-ranking attorney when it came to defending prisoners on death row. This helped delay Joe’s execution, which was initially scheduled for October 16, 1937. Roy also took part in several interviews to try and disprove that Joe was a manipulator or “deviant”.At first, Roy and Gail were able to convince a judge from Fremont County to take over the case in hopes of getting Joe a commutation at worst, or an outright exoneration at best. The two argued that such a high-profile murder would have played against Joe during his trial. While the judge in Fremont county agreed to their request, he was not able to do so, because the Supreme Court of Colorado declared that Fremont County had no jurisdiction over the case.Quite ironically, despite being beaten up by children and adults alike in the outside world, the other inmates — including those on death row — enjoyed his presence and never complained about him.Credit: Colorado SunAbove: Colorado Death Row During The 1930sWhen Roy bought Joe a train, he would often let the train go through another prisoner’s cell, who would then return it without complaint.In fact, Joe Arridy seemed to love being in prison so much when compared to the life that he had beforehand, that he did not even want to return home.A reporter asked him in December 1938 whether he wanted to leave prison, and Joe refused:“No, I want to get a life sentence and stay here with Warden Best. At the home the kids used to beat me…. I never get in trouble here.”The Murder of Joe Arridy — Forgotten HistoryJoe Arridy had enjoyed licking his bowls and making faces. He also enjoyed looking at funny picture books provided to him by the warden. If one of the books were badly damaged, Roy would offer Joe a pair of scissors so that he could keep the images.Credit: Denver PostAbove: Joe Arridy Hugging His Mother Shortly Before His ExecutionAs entertainment, Joe also puffed some of Roy’s cigars, which his mother disapproved of. Nonetheless, she became frustrated and would often leave abruptly because she could not make out why Joe seemed to be so happy on death row.District Attorney Gail Ireland successfully got Joe nine stays.The final appeal was made to the Supreme Court of Colorado.In a 4–3 vote, the court denied Arridy another stay.Meanwhile, Governor Teller Amons, who was to leave office in four days, personally called Roy Best and ordered that the execution commence at once.Roy Best (prison warden) - WikipediaCredit: Forgotten HistoryEXECUTIONOn January 6, 1939, twenty-three-year-old Joe Arridy was eating ice cream when prison officials came to notify him that his request for a commutation had been denied, and that he would now be executed.From eyewitness accounts, it appears that he had little understanding of what this meant. Initially, Joe placed his ice cream bowl beside him with the intention of coming back for it later. As soon as one of the prison officials clarified that he would not be returning, he became increasingly anxious."No, no, Joe won't die."Joe Arridy - WikipediaMoments later, Roy Best was able to tame the prisoner when he gestured him with his hand and comforted him.As they stood up, prison chaplain Father Albert Schaller approached Joe and told him that he could not take the train with him, though he told Joe that he would soon be getting a harp in exchange.Credit: Deseret NewsJoe Arridy: The happiest man on death rowJoe Arridy remained happy from the moment he exited his cell for the last time and made his way up the hill towards the site of his execution, and right up until the moment he was strapped to the chair. It was then that his smile dropped, and his anxiety resume.Before exiting the gas chamber, Roy once again held his hand until his smile returned.Credit: Capital Punishment UKWith nothing else left to do but wait, the clock continued ticking its way towards the designated time when the execution could legally commence.The switch was finally pulled, and with the gas cloud filling the chamber, the “Happiest Man on Death Row” faded into history.Credit: Forgotten HistoryAFTERMATHFrom 1939 until 1992, his case was largely forgotten.Newspaper reporters who had witnessed the execution confirmed his happy, childish expression, though little else was publicly discussed in regards to Joe’s execution until March 28, 1992, when a sociologist by the name of Richard Voorhees came across a poem, written shortly after Joe’s death.Credit: Boredom Therapyhttps://boredomtherapy.com/s/happiest-prisoner-on-death-row?as=799&asv=1&bdk=0He was able to quickly confirm that the poem was privately written by Roy Best as his way of grieving.The highlight of the poem was:“The man you kill tonight, is six years old. He has no idea why he dies."Credit: Find A GraveAbove: Roy Best Shortly Before His DeathJoe Arridy Was the Happiest Man on Death RowSince then, Joe’s fame (or infamy) has been renewed.I have not been able to find out the date of death of either his mother or brother, though his sister Amelia — who was born on March 4, 1924 — was eighty-eight years old at the time of her death on May 25, 2012 in Memphis, Tennessee, where she is today buried.Credit: Find A GraveAmelia Rose Arridy Gannon (1924-2012) - Find A...Ultimately, Joe’s sister — and quite possibly his last direct link — lived just long enough for Governor Bill Ritter to pardon Joe Arridy on January 7, 2011, seventy-two years and one day after his execution had been carried out.As for Joe, he is today buried in Greenwood Pioneer Cemetery, where he will most certainly spend all of eternity.Credit: Rocky Mountain TreksWhile this may seem sad for those who regard prison as a miserable existence, and an even sadder fate to be buried forever beneath the soils of the very place that has confined so many people, this appears not to be the case for Joe.If anything, Joe — who had wished to serve a life sentence and be with those he spent his final years with — may feel happy at the thought that at least he will be comforted by their presence in the afterlife.Even in death, in a cemetery filled with rows of inmates who came before and after him, Joe Arridy quite literally remains…THE HAPPIEST MAN ON DEATH ROW!Credit: Reddit