While he was on death row, Coleman's claims of innocence reached an international audience. Time magazine put Coleman on its May 18, 1992 cover. Virginia Governor Douglas Wilder received 13,000 calls and letters about Coleman from around the world, nearly all in favor of clemency. Wilder arranged a secret, last-minute polygraph test for Coleman, who failed.[6] Coleman shared a final meal of cold pizza with James McCloskey, executive director of Centurion Ministries, who had been working since 1988 to prove Coleman's innocence.
On May 20, 1992, the Commonwealth of Virginia executed Roger Keith Coleman in the electric chair. As Coleman was strapped into the electric chair, he made one final declaration. "An innocent man is going to be murdered tonight," he said. "When my innocence is proven, I hope America will realize the injustice of the death penalty as all other civilized countries have."
On January 5, 2006, Warner ordered DNA evidence to be retested. The evidence was sent to the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto, which determined that his DNA matched with no exclusions and that there was only a 1-in-19-million chance of a random match. On January 12, 2006 Warner's office announced that the test results confirmed Coleman's guilt.[8]
