Michael Anderson Godwin was a murderer. He was awaiting South Carolina's electric chair in 1989 when he decided to fix his TV set while sitting on his cell's metal toilet. You can probably see where this is going.


Being on death row is lonely, so having a TV is important to your sanity. Godwin's was on the fritz, so he decided to multitask by trying to fix it while using the commode.

The last stupid decision of his life was to bite down on an exposed wire in the plugged-in TV while sitting on the metal toilet. He was electrocuted instantly, making his own kind of electric chair and saving the state the trouble.


Machines Behaving Deadly: A week exploring the sometimes difficult relationship between man and technology.