AFTER 16 YEARS, TROOPER'S WIDOW FINALLY RECEIVED A LITTLE CLOSURE

Almost three weeks after watching the execution of the man who shot her husband, Sarah Froemsdorf said her ordeal is not over.

"If you ask if I have closure, I'd say yes and no," said Froemsdorf, whose husband, Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper James Froemsdorf was killed by Jerome Mallett after an arrest in 1985. "I have closure in that the court's order has been carried out, but it still doesn't change what was done."

Once Mallett's execution date was announced in June, Froemsdorf said she struggled with the idea of going to the Potosi Correctional Center to witness Mallett receiving a lethal injection. At first she didn't want to go.

"Nobody wants to see anybody die," she said. "It was just like I was drawn to go."

On the Friday before the July 11 execution, Froemsdorf attempted to arrange a face-to-face meeting with Mallett, but prison officials told her it would be impossible with so little time left. She told a victim's advocate with the state division of probation and parole she had two questions to ask Mallett, so the questions were written and given to Mallett.

Froemsdorf wanted to know if Mallett was sorry for what he did, and why he shot her husband twice while he lay wounded on the ground.

Mallett responded that he felt remorse, but as for shooting the wounded trooper, he answered that he did what he had to do, Froemsdorf said.

The final decision by Froemsdorf's three daughters to witness the execution came with one day left. Their mother said she was glad that they went.

After waving and speaking through the glass of the execution chamber to his family members, Mallett received a dose of sodium pentothol that was supposed to put him to sleep before receiving lethal potassium chloride injection. But when the sodium pentothol failed to work, corrections officials closed curtains around Mallett to make adjustments.

After the curtains reopened, Froemsdorf said her daughters were crying. Mallett then looked at each of the daughters and Froemsdorf and said to each individually "I'm sorry."

One daughter was looking at the floor as Mallett looked toward her. He spoke his regrets twice while looking at her, Froemsdorf said.

"Mallett gave my children what they needed," she said. "He said he was sorry."

Unlike others, Froemsdorf doesn't question Mallett's motive for apologizing.

"People have asked me if I thought he was sincere," she said. "I don't care if he was. He didn't have to do it, but he did."