AL: Alabama executes man for 1988 murder
Fri Aug 24, 2007 9:00AM
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Alabama executes man for 1988 murder

Thu Aug 23, 2007 8:40PM EDT
By Peggy Gargis

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - A man convicted of shooting a World
War Two veteran to death during a 1988 robbery was executed by lethal
injection on Thursday in Alabama.

The execution of Luther Jerome Williams, 47, for the slaying of John
Robert Kirk, who participated in the 1944 Omaha Beach landing in
France, was the state's third of 2007 and the 38th since capital
punishment was reinstated in 1976.

Williams was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m. CDT at Holman Correctional
Facility in southern Alabama. He ate a hot dog, a green salad and
orange juice as a last meal, said Alabama Department of Corrections
spokesman Brian Corbett.

Williams spoke through the glass partition in the execution chamber
separating him from two members of the victim's family, who came to
witness his death, and proclaimed his innocence, Corbett said.

He was sentenced in 1989 for the murder of Kirk, who was shot in the
back of the head. He had exhausted all his appeals and the U.S.
Supreme Court voted 5-4 on Thursday to deny a stay of execution.

Attorneys Christopher Little and Joel Sogol also wrote to Gov. Bob
Riley on Monday asking for a stay until after a federal judge rules
in October whether Alabama's lethal injection method of execution
constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

Williams' attorneys and Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty
said his mental status was never thoroughly evaluated, noting that
Williams, who had been arrested 15 times before his murder
conviction, lagged years behind his age group in school.

Riley issued a statement on Thursday rejecting their request.

© Reuters 2007.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domestic ... 4120070824