Two men sentenced to death for murder were executed this Tuesday, October 14, in the United States, in Florida and Missouri.
These two executions, carried out by lethal injection, bring to 37 the total number of executions carried out since the beginning of the year in the United States, the highest level since the 39 recorded in 2013.
Two more are planned this week, in Mississippi (south) this Wednesday and in Arizona (southwest) on Friday, of eight in total planned until December 31.
In Florida (southeast), Samuel Smithers, 72, was executed for the 1996 murder of two prostitutes, Christy Cowan and Denise Roach, whom he had beaten and strangled. The bodies of the two women were found in a pond on a property where he was doing gardening work.
In Missouri (center), Lance Shockley, 48, was executed this afternoon for the 2005 murder of a police officer, Carl Graham, of whom he always said he was innocent. The police officer, who was investigating a fatal traffic accident caused by the accused the previous year, was found shot to death in front of his home.
Lance Shockley was sentenced to death despite the absence of physical evidence, according to the defense, and although the jury did not reach a unanimous verdict on this sentence. Missouri is one of the few states where the death penalty can be imposed without jury unanimity.
Lethal injection, nitrogen inhalation, firing squad
The vast majority of executions since the beginning of the year in the United States, 31 in total, have been carried out by lethal injection.
Four were executed by nitrogen inhalation, a method used for the first time in the world in Alabama (south) in 2024 and compared by UN experts to a form of “torture”, and two by firing squad in South Carolina, for the first time in the United States since 2010.
The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 American states. Three others, California, Oregon and Pennsylvania, observe a moratorium on executions by decision of the governor.
Source: BFM TV
