McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — A man convicted of shooting and killing two people in Oklahoma City more than two decades ago was executed Thursday morning.
Michael Dewayne Smith received a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and was pronounced dead at 10:20 a.m., Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokesperson Lance West said.
After the first of three lethal drugs, midazolam, was administered, Smith, 41, appeared to shake briefly and attempt to lift his head from the gurney before relaxing. He then took several short, audible breaths that sounded like snores or gasps. Oklahoma DOC Director Steven Harpe said after the execution that Smith “appeared to have some form of sleep apnea.”
A masked doctor entered the execution chamber at 10:14 a.m. and shook Smith several times before declaring him unconscious.
Smith appeared to stop breathing about a minute later. The doctor reentered the execution chamber at 10:19 a.m. and checked for a pulse before Harpe announced the time of death.
Smith was sentenced to die in the separate shooting deaths of Janet Moore, 41, and Sharath Pulluru, 22, in February 2002. He is the first person executed in Oklahoma this year and the 12th put to death since the state resumed executions in 2021 following a nearly seven-year hiatus resulting from problems with executions in 2014 and 2015.
Given the opportunity to say last words, Smith responded, “Nah, I’m good.”
Moore's son Phillip Zachary Jr. and niece Morgan Miller-Perkins witnessed the execution from behind one-way glass. Attorney General Gentner Drummond read a statement on their behalf that said in part: “Justice has been served.”
Drummond, in his own statement, called Moore “a rock for her family” and said Pulluru “was an inspiration to his family” as the first member to come to the United States for an education.
“Janet and Sharath were murdered simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time; that was all. I am grateful that justice has been served,” Drummond said.
During a clemency hearing last month, Smith expressed his “deepest sorrows” to the victims’ families, but denied he was responsible.
“I didn’t commit these crimes. I didn’t kill these people,” Smith said, occasionally breaking into tears during his 15-minute address to the board, which denied him clemency in a 4-1 vote. “I was high on drugs. I don’t even remember getting arrested.”
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday morning denied a stay of execution requested by Smith’s attorneys, who argued that his confession to police was not sufficiently corroborated.
Prosecutors say Smith was a ruthless gang member who killed both victims in misguided acts of revenge and confessed his involvement in the killings to police and two other people.
They claim he killed Moore because he was looking for her son, who he mistakenly thought had told police about his whereabouts. Later that day, prosecutors say Smith killed Pulluru, a convenience store clerk who Smith believed had disrespected his gang during an interview with a newspaper reporter.
Smith’s attorney, Mark Henricksen, argued that Smith is intellectually disabled, a condition worsened by years of heavy drug use, and that his life should be spared and he should be allowed to spend the rest of it in prison. Henricksen said Smith was in a PCP-induced haze when he confessed to police and that key elements of his confession aren’t supported by facts.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond reads a statement on behalf of murder victim Janet Moore on Thursday, April 4, 2024, while standing between Moore's son, Phillip Zachary, Jr., and niece Morgan Miller-Perkins at the Oklahoma State penitentiary in McAlester, Okla., following the execution of Michael Dewayne Smith. The 41-year-old was sentenced to die for killing Moore and Sharath Pulluru in separate shootings in February 2002. (AP Photo/Sean Murphy)
FILE - This Feb. 5, 2021, file photo provided by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections shows Michael Dewayne Smith, who is scheduled to be executed on April 4, 2024. (Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP, File)
Wall Street pointed slightly lower early Thursday ahead of the week's second U.S. inflation report and an expected interest rate cut by the European Central Bank.
Futures for the S&P 500 were down about 0.2%, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% before the opening bell, which will be rung by President-elect Donald Trump.
Shares of Adobe tumbled about 11% after the software maker posted a healthy quarterly earnings report but disappointed investors with a lukewarm forecast.
Uber clawed back some of its losses from a day earlier, climbing 3.4% after a company executive gave an optimistic outlook at a conference and highlighted the ride-share company's push into autonomous vehicles.
Later Thursday, the Labor Department releases data on inflation at the wholesale level, one day after it reported that consumer prices ticked up to 2.7% in November. Though sticky inflation can lead central bankers to raise interest rates or at least keep them elevated, most analysts are still expecting the Fed to cut its benchmark interest rate at its meeting next week.
The Fed began trimming rates in September from a two-decade high to support a slowing job market after getting inflation nearly all the way down to its 2% target. Lower rates would give a boost to the economy and to prices for investments, but they could also provide more fuel for inflation.
Expectations for a series of cuts to rates by the Fed have been one of the main reasons the S&P 500 has set an all-time high 57 times this year, with the latest coming last week.
Also coming Thursday it the government's latest weekly report on U.S. layoffs.
Global markets were mixed ahead of a decision by the European Central Bank on interest rates that was expected to yield at least a quarter percentage point cut to the current 3.25% benchmark.
Analysts said the monetary authority for the 20 euro currency countries in the European Union was bound to act now that inflation has fallen to target levels and growth is slowing.
Germany's DAX, the CAC 40 in Paris and Britain's FTSE 100 were all relatively unchanged before the ECB's announcement.
Chinese shares rose as leaders met in Beijing to set economic plans and targets for the coming year. The government announced plans to expand trial private pension programs to the entire country, beginning Dec. 15.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 1.2% to 20,397.05 and the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.9% to 3,461.50.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index advanced 1.2% to 39,849.14, led by buying of technology shares. Advantest Corp., which makes equipment for testing computer chips, gained 5.1%, while chip maker Tokyo Electron was up 0.6%.
South Korea's Kospi gained 1.6% to 2,482.12 and the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia slipped 0.3% to 8,330.30.
Taiwan's Taiex climbed 0.6% and the Sensex in India shed 0.3%. The SET in Bangkok edged 0.1% lower.
In other dealings early Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil picked up 22 cents to $70.51 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude oil, the international standard, picked up 16 cents to $73.64 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar fell to 152.25 Japanese yen from 152.46 yen. The euro ticked up to $1.0500 from $1.0496.
People pass the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District on Wednesday Dec.11, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
A cover of Time magazine's person of the year, shows President-elect Donald Trump, before a ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
People gather in front of the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
Currency traders talk each others near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A currency trader walks near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Currency traders watch computer monitors near the screens showing the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A currency trader stands near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
