In the US it is common for many decades to pass before someone sentenced to death is executed.
Two men were executed yesterday, Wednesday, in the USA, in the states of Arizona and Texas, after they had been sentenced to the death penalty for murders.
Murray Hooper, a 76-year-old African-American man, was executed by lethal injection at the Florence Correctional Facility yesterday morning, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced. For “the most heinous crimes (…) we must never forget the victims nor avoid doing justice”, he emphasized.
In the US it is common for many decades to pass before someone sentenced to death is executed. At the end of 2020 nearly a quarter of people awaiting execution in the US were over 60, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).
According to prosecutors, on December 31, 1980, Hooper and two accomplices broke into a home to commit a robbery and tied up its three occupants before shooting them. A man and his mother-in-law died, while his wife survived and later identified the three assailants.
All three were sentenced to death in 1983, but both died before they could be executed. Hooper still maintained his innocence.
At neighboring state of Texas 55-year-old Steven Barbie was executed last night.
He was sentenced to death in 2006 for the murder of his pregnant ex-partner and her 7-year-old son.
He initially pleaded guilty, but quickly recanted and claimed he was coerced into confessing by the police.
After his conviction, an intense legal battle had begun and he had managed to have his sentence suspended twice.
His lawyers appealed to the US Supreme Court on Tuesday in a last-ditch effort to keep him from being executed. They complained that the local prison authorities have not set a clear policy regarding the religious rights of the condemned in the execution chamber.
However, the prison authorities responded that they had accepted all of Barbie’s requests and had allowed a priest to hold his hand while he was given the lethal injection.
Barbie became the 15th person to be executed in the US this year.
RES-EMP
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
