Florida and Missouri execute two men by lethal injection for murder
Samuel Smithers, 72, was sentenced to death in 1999 for the 1996 murders of Christy Cowan and Denise Roach in Tampa. Lance Shockley, 48, was convicted of the 2005 murder of Police Sergeant Carl Graham.
Lance Shockley and Samuel Smithers
(AFP) A Florida man convicted of murdering two women he had hired for sex was executed by lethal injection, in one of two executions carried out Tuesday.
Samuel Smithers, 72, was sentenced to death in 1999 for the 1996 murders of Christy Cowan and Denise Roach in Tampa. Both had been beaten and strangled, and their bodies were found in a pond.
Smithers was executed in a Florida state prison at 6:15pm local time.
Missouri execution
Another condemned man was also executed Tuesday by lethal injection in the state of Missouri.
The execution of Lance Shockley, 48, was carried out at 6:13pm local time for the 2005 murder of police sergeant Carl Graham.
Graham was shot to death in an ambush at his home. The officer was investigating an automobile accident involving Shockley at the time.
Shockley pleaded his innocence, but his appeals were rejected by numerous courts, including the Supreme Court. Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe rejected his application for clemency on Monday.
Other executions scheduled for this week
Another two executions are scheduled for this week.
Charles Crawford, 59, will be executed by lethal injection in Missississippi on Wednesday for the 1994 rape and murder of Kristy Ray, a 20-year-old college student.
Richard Djerf, 55, will be executed by lethal injection in Arizona on Friday for the brutal murders in 1993 of four members of a family from Phoenix.
37 executions so far this year
Florida has carried out the most executions (14). It is followed by the states of Texas (5), South Carolina (4) and Alabama (4).
Thirty-one of these have been carried out by lethal injection, two by firing squad and four by nitrogen hypoxia.
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