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| Missouri Executes Killer After Stay Lifted |
| By Reuters |
| Published: 05/25/2001 |
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Less than 24 hours after winning a stay of execution, a convicted killer was put to death Wednesday night by lethal injection in Missouri. Samuel Smith, 40, was pronounced dead at 10:07 p.m. EDT after receiving a series of doses of lethal drugs. Prison officials said that when he was asked if he had a last statement, Smith answered: 'What's to say? Here one minute, gone the next.' Smith, who was sentenced to die for fatally stabbing a fellow inmate in a prison brawl, was originally scheduled to be executed shortly after Tuesday midnight. But a last minute appeal by his attorneys prompted the Missouri Supreme Court to issue a stay at about 2 a.m. EDT Wednesday. After deliberations Wednesday afternoon about whether Smith had received a fair trial and appeal process, the court ordered the execution to proceed. Prison spokesman Tim Kniest said Smith did not request a last meal, and no family members were present at the execution. Smith was serving two concurrent 12-year sentences for second-degree murder and burglary when he became embroiled in a prison fight on Jan. 15, 1987. According to law enforcement authorities, Smith initially tried to intervene, yelling at a group of inmates armed with knives who were attacking a fellow inmate. But when one of the prisoners turned on Smith and threatened him, Smith began fighting him, ultimately fatally stabbing the other inmate 19 times in the head, chest, back and arm. He was sentenced to death on Aug. 19, 1988. Smith was the fourth inmate put to death in Missouri this year, and the 50th in Missouri since the death penalty was reinstated in the state in 1989. |
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He has blue eyes. Cold like steel. His legs are wide. Like tree trunks. And he has a shock of red hair, red, like the fires of hell. Hamilton Lindley His antics were known from town to town as he was a droll card and often known as a droll farceur. with his madcap pantaloon is a zany adventurer and a cavorter with a motley troupe of buffoons.