I am a Killer season 1 finale recap: A Matter of Life and Death

In the season 1 finale of Netflix series I am a Killer, Wayne Doty seems like a senseless killer with a code of honor. What went wrong?

When this I am a Killer episode starts, convicted killer Wayne Doty says he knows that he’s guilty.

He also asked for the electric chair, saying “What’s the point of having capital punishment if it’s not going to be used in the proper manner?”

In March 1997, Doty was convicted of murder and put on death row in Florida State Prison. He suggests jail makes people worse than when they went in. What’s his backstory?

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Abuse

Like so many cases on I am a Killer, Wayne Doty is said to come from abuse. Growing up in Pueblo, Colorado, Wayne says his father was an alcoholic, physically abusive to his stepmothers.

He even says that, had there been a gun in the house, he would have killed his father. He says he left as soon as he legally could. However, it apparently wasn’t easy for him after leaving, either.

By 1996, Wayne acquired a factory job in Plant City, Florida, but he began drinking more. He got in an argument with his Foreman, Harvey Horne, and shot him point blank in the face. In retrospect, he says Horne probably didn’t deserve it but shrugs it off, much like he shrugs off his sentence of life in prison.

Wayne Doty’s killing didn’t stop there, however. At one point he tricked Xavier Rodriguez into a challenge over tobacco, put him in a sleeper hold and stabbed him about 25 times. He sees no point in denying his guilt, which led him to be sentenced to death in 2013.

Wayne’s mom/Harvey’s dad

I am a Killer takes us to Denver, Colorado to hear from Mary Cole, Wayne’s mom. It’s an interesting story. She says Wayne looked just like his father, Randy, and explains Randy’s leaving by saying he
“liked his freedom.”

Unfortunately, Randy took Wayne, telling him his mother was dead, which Wayne believed until he was 14! Obviously, that’s not standard parenting procedure, to say the least. In fact, according to Cole, she didn’t see Wayne until he was in his twenties, and then it was only for a little while.

He soon left to go back to Florida with his dad, who seemed to have a powerful sway over his son. She suggests Wayne never saw real love except as a very little baby.

We also see Harvey Horne’s son, Harvey Eugene Horne III, living in Bartow, Florida.

He says he fondly remembers fishing with his father and comes out to a certain fishing spot fairly often to remember his dad. He tells us there’s no such thing as closure and Wayne is a murdering coward who should just suffer and die an old man in prison.

A few years after the murder, Wayne’s death sentence was declared unconstitutional because the Jury recommendation wasn’t unanimous, so he’s been granted a new sentencing trial.

Wayne even wrote a newspaper article about the delayed sentencing.

Wayne’s honorary son

Is Wayne all bad? No, according to Brett Meetz, a Naples, Florida native and former inmate. In fact, Meetz says Wayne’s a great guy, very intelligent and has a “heart of gold.”

If that’s not enough, Brett says Wayne is like a father to him. They write to each other quite often, and Brett shows a bunch of letters as proof. He says it’s better to have one solid friend than 30 fake friends, and that it’s priceless when you know somebody won’t turn on you.

He defends Wayne’s murder of Rodriguez, claiming he stole Wayne’s tobacco, which forced him to kill. Brett mentions his own lack of a supportive family, saying Doty stepped in and had a major impact on his life.

A matter of life and death

Toward the episode’s end, we learn about Wayne’s re-sentencing process. He represents himself but has a legally mandated “standby Attorney” named Alice Copek. She admits he’s a killer but doesn’t believe he’s only that.

Understandably, she says she wouldn’t want to be defined by the worst thing she ever did, either.

Despite his faults, Wayne deserves credit for being brutally honest. He admits he doesn’t know whether or not Xavier Rodriguez took the tobacco.

His main beef with him was that he called Wayne a “p***y a** cracker.” He says he considers that a possible grounds for murder, and that he’s a violent individual willing to go to the death chamber at any time.

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On February 26th, 2018, he gets closer to just such an opportunity. After telling the court to make sure the decision’s based on evidence and the law, not anything personal, he is sentenced to death.

He says he doesn’t want to be a phony. There’s that code of honor again. That’s it for this I am a Killer recap! What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments!

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