Not to nitpick, and not to be crude, but these "last rites" would not have included Extreme Unction, because the farmer hadn't been shot yet while the photo was being taken, and Extreme Unction is not given to those who are at the moment healthy.  Presumably (or rather, one hopes) the priest heard his confession, gave him Holy Communion, and assisted him in obtaining the Apostolic Pardon.

Given all that, I'm not entirely clear that Extreme Unction could licitly be given to him after he was, indeed, executed.  While there may be a liminal space between apparent death and the soul leaving the body (20-30 minutes), there would be no hope of the farmer actually being healed of his wounds, short of a miracle.  Can anyone help me out here and clarify?

The Priest would administer Extreme Unction conditionally.


https://archive.org/details/1917CodeOfCanonLawCommentary/page/n1722/mode/1up

This might help.  You're sort of right.

https://catholicnewslive.com/story/120271

This is precisely what I was getting at.  While an executed person is in no danger of death from sickness before the execution, once it takes place (just having had fatal shots, hanging, blades, etc. inflicted upon their person), they are certainly "in danger of death" in the most extreme manner possible --- again, not to be crude, but they're certainly "sick" at that point, you don't get much "sicker" than that! --- in fact, the body has died but the soul may linger for a time (an hour, as noted above).  Though it's highly unlikely, a miracle could take place, after all, Our Lord raised people from the dead (not to mention that He rose from the dead Himself after having been executed), and in any event, the spiritual healing intrinsic to Extreme Unction would still take place.

It's interesting to think of what would happen if Extreme Unction did, indeed, bring the executed criminal back to life.  Would they then walk free, in that the sentence would have been carried out, they were killed... and then "came back from the dead"?

(I'm reminded here of the joke about an Englishman, a Frenchman, and a man of a nationality I won't specify, being sentenced to death at the guillotine.  The executioner asks the Englishman if he has any last words.  He says "Rule Britannia, God save the King!".  The blade falls but gets stuck halfway down.  He lives and walks free, as the sentence has been carried out.  Then the executioner asks the Frenchman if he has any last words.  He says "Liberte, egalite, fraternite, vive la France!".  The blade falls but gets stuck halfway down.  He lives and walks free.  Then the third man is asked for his last words.  He says "if you put some grease in the grooves, it'll fall all the way down and won't keep getting stuck...")