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An Oklahoma death row inmate convicted of shooting and killing two people in Oklahoma City more than two decades ago was executed Thursday morning.
Michael DeWayne Smith, 41, was executed by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary after his conviction and death sentence for the slayings of Janet Moore, 41, and Sharath Pulluru, 22, in separate shootings that took place in February 2002.
He was declared dead at 10:19 a.m. after receiving lethal drugs in the execution chamber. When asked if he had any last words, Smith replied, “Nah, I’m good.”
Family members of victim Janet Moore 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.”
People stand outside the governor’s mansion during a prayer vigil against the death penalty in Oklahoma City on Nov. 30, 2023. (SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN/USA TODAY NETWORK)
A group that opposes the death penalty protested Smith’s execution outside the Governor’s Mansion in Oklahoma City on Thursday.
The Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty demanded that Gov. Kevin Stitt halt the execution. The protest came after Smith’s family petitioned the Republican governor on Wednesday to intervene, saying that new evidence in Smith’s case showed that witnesses were being coerced during trial, local station KOCO News reported.
Drummond, in a statement, called victim Moore “a rock for her family” and said Pulluru “was an inspiration to his family” as the first member to come to the U.S. 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,” the attorney general said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
