BALTIMORE (AP) – In a letter written eight days before his execution, Steven Oken questioned Gov. Robert Ehrlich’s political courage and said killing him would ruin an opportunity to stop future murderers.

The letter, first obtained by The Baltimore Sun, was dated June 9. It wasn’t sent until Thursday night because Oken’s lawyers decided to wait while an appeal for clemency was pending.

In it, Oken admitted killing 20-year-old newlywed Dawn Marie Garvin and said he deserved to be punished. But he said he doubted that Ehrlich could make what Oken called “the difficult choice” of sparing his life.

“Everything I have seen and read concerning you Governor Ehrlich, leads me to believe that you are a politician in every respect of the word,” Oken wrote. “You care about what all politicians care about: getting the vote.”

After Ehrlich denied a petition for clemency Thursday, Oken, 42, was executed that night by lethal injection – 17 years after he went on a two-week rampage that left three women dead.

Henry Fawell, an Ehrlich spokesman, said the letter was sent Thursday night to the governor’s general fax line and wasn’t found until late Friday afternoon. He said the governor hadn’t seen the letter and wouldn’t comment on it.

Fred Warren Bennett, Oken’s lead attorney, said he and his associates thought the letter “was in some respects inflammatory in terms of taking a potshot at the governor. It shows that he was conflicted, that he knew he did wrong, that he did not know how adequately to express it.”

Oken says in the letter that he was responsible for killing Garvin, the woman for whose murder he received the death penalty. But he didn’t express remorse in the letter for killing his other two victims. Instead, Oken predicted Ehrlich would publicly state that the case was about three murders rather than just one.

“I only received the death penalty for the murder of Dawn Garvin,” Oken wrote. “You will make reference to three murders to further demonize me in the public’s eye. As awful as this crime was you will attempt to make it worse. You may say that I am splitting hairs, but I am being truthful.”

Oken also wrote that because of his death, the state would learn nothing about how to identify and stop “future Steven Okens.”

“There are other Steven Okens out there and they will strike (with) horrific results and there will be more victims,” he wrote. “You have a chance to make a difference. Learn from me. Learn why this happened. Learn how to identify and stop others before they commit these heinous crimes.”

Oken said he had participated in one study concerning his actions and that he was willing to do more “to make a real difference.”

“I do not want another family to go through what I have put Dawn Garvin’s family and my family through,” he said.

Garvin’s brother called it “a letter of self-pity.”

“His letter to the governor is all about him,” Fred Romano said. “This should not have been about a legal issue. It should have been about remorse.”

Oken was executed for the 1987 rape and murder of Garvin. He also was convicted of killing Patricia Hirt, his wife’s sister, and Lori Ward, a motel clerk in Maine, during a 15-day spree.

AP-ES-06-19-04 1702EDT