Murray Hooper, a 76-year-old African-American, received a lethal injection at Florence Penitentiary, state Attorney General Mark Brnovich said in a statement.
For “the vilest crimes…we must never forget the victims or give up on dispensing justice,” he said.
In the United States, it is not uncommon for decades to elapse between a death penalty sentence and its enforcement, so many are the possible legal remedies after sentencing.
At the end of 2020, nearly a quarter of people on death row in the United States were over the age of 60, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).
According to prosecutors, on New Year’s Eve 1980, Murray Hooper and two accomplices broke into a home to rob it, tied up the three occupants before shooting them in the head. A man and his mother-in-law were dead, his wife survived and later identified the three assailants.
All three were sentenced to death in 1983, but the other two died in custody before being executed. Murray Hooper has always maintained his innocence without convincing the courts.
Another execution scheduled for the night.
In addition, the neighboring state of Texas plans to execute Stephen Barbee, 55, also by lethal injection at night.
He was sentenced to death in 2006 for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, who was pregnant at the time, and their seven-year-old son.
He initially admitted the facts, but quickly retracted it, saying that the police had coerced him into making a false confession.
Since his conviction, he has been involved in an intense legal battle and has obtained suspended sentences twice.
His lawyers filed a final appeal with the United States Supreme Court on Tuesday. They blame the local prison authorities for not having a clear policy regarding the religious rights of convicts in the execution chamber.
They replied that they had agreed to all of Stephen Barbee’s requests, including having his chaplain hold his hand during the injection.
The Supreme Court will rule tonight. Its conservative majority is impervious to the arguments of those on death row, except sometimes in religious cases.
If he still decides in favor of Texas, Stephen Barbee will become the 15th convict to be executed this year in the United States.
Source: BFM TV
