Arkansas executed death row inmate Ledell Lee late Thursday night shortly after the US Supreme Court denied emergency motions in his case, CNN reports.
Lee was administered the lethal injection at 11:44 p.m. local time (12:44 a.m. ET) and pronounced dead 12 minutes later.
He requested the Holy Communion as his last meal, and declined to make a final statement, the Arkansas Department of Correction said.
His execution was Arkansas’ first since 2005. The state had planned to execute eight inmates over 10 days starting April 17, but four of the men have received stays for various reasons
Lee was convicted in 1995 in the murder of Debra Reese, 26, two years prior. Reese was found dead in her home in Jacksonville, Arkansas, where she had been strangled and beaten with a small wooden bat her husband gave her for protection. Read more at CNN.
{Matzav}
Rabbi Avigdor Miller z”l was in favor of the death penalty for those who deserve it and he said it protected society against violent criminals which is obvious to any thinking person. The insane anti death penalty activists prevent the carrying out of justice by making all sorts of false claims about the ineffectiveness of drugs and Leftist criminal judges go along with them. For the safety and sanity of society, the evil judges should be removed and the law should be carried out in order to insure justice.