The US state of Oklahoma executes man convicted of double murder
Image source: Oklahoma Department of Corrections
Image caption: Michael Dewayne Smith
The US state of Oklahoma has carried out its first execution for 2024, giving a lethal injection to a man convicted of a double murder.
Background
Michael Dewayne Smith, aged 41, was 19 when he killed Janet Moore and Sarath Babu Pulluru during a drug-fuelled crime spree in Oklahoma City in 2002. Smith’s murders were committed while he was already on the run for a shooting death a year earlier.
Janet Moore was killed by Smith when he went to her house looking for her son, whom Smith believed to be a police informant. Sarath Babu Pulluru was killed when Smith mistook him for another convenience store clerk who had made disparaging comments to a local newspaper about Smith’s criminal gang.
Execution
Smith was pronounced dead at 10:20 ET on Thursday after receiving the lethal cocktail of three drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He died within minutes of the administration of the drugs, according to reporters who were present at the scene.
Resumed Executions
Smith’s execution marks the 12th execution in Oklahoma since the state resumed carrying out death penalties in 2021. The nearly seven-year hiatus was due to a series of problems encountered during previous executions. In 2014, a condemned prisoner writhed in apparent pain for 43 minutes before dying from a heart attack, and the following year, a prisoner being executed claimed to feel extreme pain.
Reactions
Oklahoma Attorney General, Gentner Drummond, expressed his gratitude that justice had been served after Smith’s death was announced. The family of Janet Moore, one of Smith’s victims, also released a statement acknowledging justice served and expressing gratitude to the authorities for pursuing the punishment over the past 22 years. Sarath Babu Pulluru’s family wrote that he will forever live in their hearts.
