A man was executed this Thursday in the US state of Oklahoma after being convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend and her 7-month-old daughter almost 20 years ago.
Raymond Johnson, 52, was pronounced dead at 10:12 am local time (4:12 pm in Lisbon), after a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, according to prison authorities.
The convict became the second person executed this year in Oklahoma and the 11th in the United States.
The man was sentenced to death for killing 24-year-old Brooke Whitaker and the victim’s daughter, 7-month-old Kya, in June 2007.
Prosecutors said Johnson and Whitaker were arguing at the victim’s Tulsa home before the man repeatedly hit in the head with a hammer.
The victim also reportedly asked Raymond Johnson for leniency, but the man set fire to home.
“Raymond Johnson is a vicious killer who inflicted unimaginable pain and suffering on his victims,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement.
Os Johnson’s lawyers did not file an appeal at the last minute before the United States Supreme Court to prevent his execution.
His lawyers argued unsuccessfully in previous appeals that Johnson’s detention was illegal, that police coerced him into confessing and that his defense attorney admitted his guilt in Whitaker’s death without his authorization.
