A 41-year-old African-American man who was sentenced to death for killing two people in 2002 was executed yesterday (Thursday) in Oklahoma, corrections authorities in that southern US state said.

Michael Smith was executed by lethal injection shortly after 10:00 Thursday morning (18:00 GMT) at a prison in the city of McAllister.

This is the first execution to take place in Oklahoma this year and the fourth in the United States.

Michael Smith was sentenced to death in 2003 for the murders of Janet Moore and Sarath Babu Puluru on February 22, 2002 in Oklahoma City.

According to the indictment, he was looking for Janet Moore’s son as he believed he had turned him in to the police. Her son was not at home, so Smith killed Janet Moore.

He then attacked Sarath Babu Puluru for speaking to journalists about Smith’s criminal organization.

The 41-year-old had confessed to the murders when questioned by police, and was wanted for another murder for which he pleaded not guilty.

He is the 12th man to be executed in Oklahoma since the state lifted a moratorium in 2021 after two failed executions in 2014 and 2015.

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In 2014, a man on death row was slaughtered for 43 minutes in pain before dying of cardiac arrest.

The following year, another death row inmate who was ultimately not executed said that when he was given the lethal injection, “it felt like they were putting acid on him” and “my body was on fire.”

A total of 24 executions took place in the US in 2023, all by lethal injection.

The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states. Six others-Arizona, Ohio, California, Oregon, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee-have imposed a moratorium.