Oklahoma executes Michael Dewayne Smith for 2002 killings
April 4 (UPI) -- The state of Oklahoma executed its first death row inmate of 2024 Thursday morning.
Michael Dewayne Smith, 41, was executed by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester for the murders of 40-year-old Janet Moore and 24-year-old Sharath Pulluru in February 2002.
Smith, who was then 19 years old and a member of a street gang called the Oak Grove Posse, allegedly shot Moore in her apartment while he was looking for her son, whom he accused of being a snitch.
He then allegedly went to the A&Z Food Mart in south Oklahoma City and shot Pulluru, the store clerk, whom he believed made comments to local media about another clerk shooting and killing a gang member in a 2000 robbery.
Pulluru, who did not make those comments, was shot nine times, doused with lighter fluid and set on fire.
Smith also was a fugitive on the run for his involvement in the 2001 murder of Otis Payne outside of the Lexus Club in Oklahoma City. He was sentenced to life in prison after admitting he handed the gun to Payne's killer, David Burns.
An Oklahoma jury in 2003 convicted Smith of first-degree burglary, two counts of first-degree murder, robbery with firearms and arson in the first degree. He was sentenced to death for the two murders.
Smith prior to execution had maintained his innocence. He said he was on PCP when the killings happened and had no memory of committing the crimes, being arrested or confessing.
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board in March denied Smith's plea for clemency in a 4-1 vote.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond in a statement on Thursday said, "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."
Before his execution, Smith in a statement said, "My life is on the line. Despite new evidence, my attorney Mark Henricksen has informed my family that he will be filing no further appeals on my behalf. I am releasing this statement to demand that Mr. Henricksen do his job and fight for my life."
Smith's attorney's earlier this year filed a motion requesting DNA testing, which the District Court of Oklahoma denied, arguing Smith "failed to demonstrate a reasonable probability that he would not have been convicted if DNA testing is conducted and yields favorable results."
The Rev. Don Heath, chair of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, responded to Smith's execution in a statement, saying Smith "was a troubled and vulnerable young man with intellectual disabilities," and that he was "ill-served by advisers who encouraged him to proclaim his innocence instead of accepting responsibility for his crimes."
"That cost him any chance for clemency. He needed mercy and forgiveness and got none."
While executions have decreased nationwide, Oklahoma has ramped up executions after a nearly six-year moratorium ended in 2021. The state set execution dates for 25 people in 2022.
There was a short delay in the scheduled executions in 2023 when the state agreed to schedule executions at least 60 days apart.
