Michael Smith was executed by lethal injection shortly after 10:00 a.m. Thursday (6:00 p.m. Greek time) in a prison in the city of McAlester.
It is the first execution in Oklahoma this year and the fourth in the US.
Michael Smith was sentenced to death in 2003 for the February 22, 2002, murders of Janet Moore and Sarath Babu Puluru in Oklahoma City.
According to the indictment, he was looking for Janet Moore’s son as he believed she had turned him in to the police. Her son was not at home so Smith killed Janet Moore. He then lashed out at Sarath Babu Puluru for speaking to reporters about Smith’s criminal organization.
The 41-year-old had confessed to the murders during his interrogation by the police, while he was also wanted for another homicide for which he pleaded not guilty.
He is the twelfth person to be executed in Oklahoma after the state lifted a moratorium on executions in 2021 after two botched executions in 2014 and 2015.
In 2014 a death row inmate writhed in pain for 43 minutes before dying of cardiac arrest. The following year another death row inmate who was ultimately not executed stated that when he was given the lethal injection he “felt like acid was being put on him” and “my body was on fire”.
A total of 24 executions took place in the US in 2023, all by lethal injection.
The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states. Six others—Arizona, Ohio, California, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee—have imposed moratoriums.
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