"Missouri man executed for raping, killing teen in 1989," is AP coverage, via the Springfield News-Leader.
Strapped to a hospital gurney, Ferguson was animated in the moments before his midnight execution at the state prison in Bonne Terre. To ease the tension, he made funny faces and mouthed words to relatives, who included his two daughters, sitting in the observation room.
As the lethal drug was administered, he took a few deep breaths before becoming still, and his daughters cried as he closed his eyes. The 59-year-old was pronounced dead at 12:11 a.m.
"I'm sorry to have to be the cause that brings you all into this dark business of execution," Ferguson said in his final statement. "I pray for the victim's family to have peace in their hearts one day and lose the anger, hate and need for revenge that has driven them."
Reuters posts, "Missouri executes killer of teenage girl," by Carey Gillam.
Ferguson's execution comes at a time when Missouri, and several U.S. states, are under fire for turning to lightly regulated compounding pharmacies for their lethal injection drugs.
Major pharmaceutical companies have stopped allowing sales of their drugs for executions, leaving U.S. states scrambling to come up with alternatives.
There have been 13 executions in American death penalty states this year; a total of 1,372 post-Furman execution since 1977. It was Missouri's third execution of 2014.
Earlier coverage from Missouri begins at the link.
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