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Oklahoma executes man convicted of double slaying in 2002

Oklahoma executes man convicted of double slaying in 2002
THIS IS KOCO FIVE NEWS AT FOUR. THAT’S 100% FOOLPROOF. WE SHOULDN’T BE KILLING ANYBODY. BECAUSE JUST LIKE MY SIGN SAYS, WHAT IF WE GOT IT WRONG TODAY? MICHAEL DWAYNE SMITH BECAME THE LATEST DEATH ROW INMATE EXECUTED IN OKLAHOMA. HE WAS CONVICTED OF TWO MURDERS IN 2002. SMITH DYING BY LETHAL INJECTION THIS MORNING AT THE OKLAHOMA STATE PENITENTIARY. THANKS FOR JOINING US HERE AT 4:00. GOOD TO SEE YOU. I’M EVAN ONSTOT I’M JESSICA SCHAMBACH. THAT’S WHERE WE START IN YOUR TOP FIVE STORIES TODAY. IN RESPONSE, SINCE A GROUP GATHERED TO PROTEST CALLING FOR AN END TO THE DEATH PENALTY IN OKLAHOMA, CAMERON SIBERT SPOKE WITH SEVERAL PROTESTERS AS THEY DEMONSTRATE. LEAD COMING TO YOU IN FRONT OF THE GOVERNOR’S MANSION THIS MORNING. THIS IS THE GROUP BEHIND US STANDING IN SOLIDARITY IN THE FINAL MOMENTS OF MICHAEL SMITH’S LIFE, JUST MINUTES BEFORE HIS EXECUTION THIS MORNING, STANDING TOGETHER AS THEY PUSH FOR AN END TO EXECUTIONS IN THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA. I HAVE LONG BEEN AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY. WE FEEL LIKE THINGS NEED TO CHANGE. I THINK HE OUGHT TO SPEND A LIFE IN PRISON AND NOT EXECUTE THEM OUTSIDE THE GOVERNOR’S MANSION, HOLDING BANNERS AND SIGNS. THE LATEST PROTEST AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY IN OKLAHOMA. AND WHY KEEP COMING BACK? WELL, BECAUSE WE CAN’T GIVE UP. TRACY CARMACK HAS BEEN TO MORE THAN A DOZEN PART OF THE OKLAHOMA COALITION TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY. WHAT IF A FAMILY MEMBER OF YOURS WAS WRONGLY CONVICTED AND TRIED AND EXECUTED, AND THEN THEY FIND OUT LATER THAT THEY WERE INNOCENT? YOU CAN NEVER TAKE THAT BACK. IF THESE PEOPLE HAD SOME UNDERLYING CAUSE, KEEP THEM INCARCERATED. KEEP THEM INCARCERATED FOR LIFE, BUT TREAT THEM. HELP THEM. DON’T JUST MURDER THEM. DOWN THE LINE STANDS. DALVIN COOKS. IT’S HIS FIRST TIME PICKING UP A SIGN. WHAT IS IT THAT PUSHED YOU OVER THE EDGE TO TO STOP WATCHING YOUR TV, BUT ACTUALLY PICK UP A SIGN AND COME OUT AND STAND HERE BECAUSE I’M TIRED OF THIS. I THINK THE SYSTEM IS NOT IN OUR FAVOR OF AFRICAN AMERICANS AT ALL. I’M TIRED OF LOOKING AT TV AND EVERYBODY GOT A DATE AT 10 A.M. TO DIE. THE LATEST DATE WAS MICHAEL DEWAYNE SMITH, EXECUTED THURSDAY MORNING AT THE OKLAHOMA STATE PENITENTIARY. HE CONFESSED AND WAS CONVICTED FOR TWO SEPARATE MURDERS. IN 2002, ATTORNEY GENERAL GENTNER DRUMMOND SHARED A STATEMENT WHICH ENDED BY SAYING SMITH’S VICTIMS WERE MURDERED SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY WERE IN THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME. THAT WAS ALL SAYING HE’S GRATEFUL THAT JUSTICE HAS BEEN SERVED. IF TWO BARBARIC. JESUS TAUGHT LOVE AND COMPASSION AND WE NEED TO EXEMPLIFY THAT. IF WE’RE GOING TO CALL OURSELVES A CHRISTIAN STATE. MICHAEL SMITH IS THE 12TH INMATE EXECUTED SINCE OKLAHOMA LIFTED A
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Oklahoma executes man convicted of double slaying in 2002
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.

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.

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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.

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)
Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP, File
Michael Dewayne Smith

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.