Reuters AlertNet Lite - Oklahoma executes convicted killer

Reuters AlertNet Full site

NEWSDESK

Oklahoma executes convicted killer

18 Jun 2008 00:31:10 GMT
Source: Reuters

OKLAHOMA CITY, June 17 (Reuters) - Oklahoma put a convicted killer to death by lethal injection on Tuesday, becoming the sixth U.S. state to resume executions since the Supreme Court lifted a temporary moratorium on capital punishment in April.

Terry Short, 47, was condemned in 1997 for the death of Ken Yamamoto, a Japanese exchange student.

Yamamoto had been an inadvertent victim of Short's rage.

According to court documents Short fire-bombed the apartment of an ex-girlfriend. She escaped but the flames spread to Yamamoto's apartment and he died from his burns.

Prison spokesman Jerry Massie said Short declined to give a last statement in the state's death chamber in McAlester. For his last meal he requested 10 pieces of fried chicken.

Oklahoma became the sixth state to resume executions since the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the three-drug cocktail used in most executions for the past 30 years.

In April, it rejected the challenge by two Kentucky death row inmates who argued the current lethal injection method inflicts needless pain and suffering in violation of a constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Executions have since been carried out in Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, South Carolina and Texas. Short was the seventh convict put to death in America this year.

(Reporting by Ben Fenwick, writing by Ed Stoddard, editing by Eric Walsh)

AlertNet news is provided by

Email this article Send comments

NGO latest

• UMCOR Hotline for June 3, 2008
UMCOR - USA

• AmeriCares Contributes to Iowa Tornado Relief
AmeriCares

• UMCOR Hotline for May 27, 2008
UMCOR - USA

• CWS responds to devastating spring storms
CWS

• World Concern Reports Positive Changes in Myanmar
World Concern - USA

MORE >>

Latest news

• Oklahoma executes convicted killer

• McCain pushes energy conservation, oil exploration

• U.S. Midwest farmland flooding boosts food prices

• China says lessons learned from U.S. economic woes

• McCain, Obama battle on issue of handling terrorism

MORE >>

AlertNet news is provided by