mischaracterized and exaggerated the evidence relied in proving Bonin was extensively abused as a child, and was mistaken in assuming Bonin's Babinski reflex and other symptoms – which were initially speculated to indicate attention deficit disorder or another minor disorder – were indicative of extensive brain damage that influenced Bonin's crimes. In addition, a neurologist's magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalogram tests conducted on Bonin would reveal that he had minimal, if any, brain anomalies indicative of damage. On February 20, 1996, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a plea for clemency submitted by Bonin's attorneys on the grounds of inadequate legal representation at both his trials. Scarcely one hour prior to his scheduled execution, the Supreme Court refused to hear Bonin's final plea to overturn his death sentence, with the convened panel in almost unanimous agreement that Bonin's own attorneys had not failed to give their client adequate legal representation by not earlier discovering their submitted claims to have discovered evidence attesting to Bonin's innocence. Furthermore, these appellate judges ruled that Bonin's attorneys should not have waited until the last minute to submit arguments to overturn or postpone the impending death sentence of their client. These convened judges also rejected Bonin's final claim that he had a right to choose between the gas chamber or lethal injection as his actual method of execution. Execution Bonin was executed by lethal injection inside the gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison on February 23, 1996. He was the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the history of California, and his execution occurred fourteen years after his first death sentence had been imposed. In a final interview given to a local radio station less than 24 hours before he was executed, Bonin claimed he had "made peace" with the fact he was about to die, adding that his only major regret in life was that he had not pursued his teenage passion of bowling long enough to have turned professional. He expressed his disagreement with the State's decision to execute him, stating: "A lot of people believe I should die for what I [have done]. I don't agree" before further elaborating: "I have no anger towards anybody, but that doesn't mean I don't think the death penalty is wrong." Bonin denied any responsibility for his actions in this interview, stating "I can say that I feel that these people