"Missouri inmate executed for raping, killing woman," is the AP report filed by Jim Suhr.
A Missouri man was put to death Wednesday for raping and killing a college student in 1995, making him the first U.S. prisoner executed since a lethal injection in Arizona last month in which an inmate took nearly two hours to die.
The Missouri Department of Corrections said Michael Worthington was executed by lethal injection at the state prison south of St. Louis and was pronounced dead at 12:11 a.m., 10 minutes after the process began. He is the seventh Missouri inmate executed this year.
And:
Before the execution began, while strapped to a gurney and covered with a sheet, Worthington spoke with his witnesses - some of them his relatives - through the glass, raising his shaved head.
When the drugs began flowing, his head lowered back to the pillow and he appeared to breathe heavily for about 15 seconds before closing his eyes for good. Some of his witnesses began crying after he fell unconscious. A Bible had been placed on his chest at his request.
To date, there have been 27 executions in American death penalty states this year; a total of 1,386 post-Furman executions since 1977. Missouri has carried out 77 post-Furman executions since 1989, including seven this year.
Earlier coverage from Missouri begins at the link.
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