because : despite all of the testimony that has been given against me here today ; despite all of the lies and accusations ; despite the spurious contention by the unesteemed prosecutor that i set the blaze in that ramshackle hotel deliberately , in order to murder my ex-wife , her son and husband , merely because she left me to have another man 's child while i was overseas , which , the unesteemed prosecutor contends , caused me to become obsessed , to track them for months , even years and , eventually , to murder them ; despite all of this , i know that if my bandages were removed ; if my ruined and melted face were restored and my eyes made whole ; if i could look through the inches of useless salve and acres of white gauze that enfold my head-i know with certainty that if i could do these things i would see , upon the face of each of the twelve of you who have given me this sentence of death , the adornment of which i have so eloquently spoken .