The state of Oklahoma has carried out its first execution for 2024, administering a lethal injection to a man convicted of double murder.
Michael Dewayne Smith, who was 19 at the time of the crime, killed Janet Moore and Sharath Babu Pulluru during a drug-fueled crime spree in Oklahoma City in 2002.
When asked if he had any last words, Smith, now 41, simply replied, “Nah, I’m good.”
He becomes the 12th person to be executed in Oklahoma since the state resumed carrying out death penalties in 2021, following a nearly seven-year hiatus due to problems encountered during executions.
In 2014, a condemned prisoner experienced apparent pain for 43 minutes before succumbing to a heart attack, while the next year, another prisoner described the execution as feeling like “acid” and claimed “my body is on fire.”
Smith’s crimes were committed while he was already evading authorities for a shooting death a year earlier.
Janet Moore was killed when Smith visited her home in search of her son, whom he suspected of being a police informant.
In a separate incident, Sharath Babu Pulluru was killed by Smith, who mistook him for another convenience store clerk who had reportedly made comments about Smith’s criminal gang to a local newspaper.
Smith was pronounced dead at 10:20 ET on Thursday after receiving the lethal cocktail of three drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, according to reporters present.
Following Smith’s execution, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond released a statement expressing gratitude that “justice has been served.”
The family of Janet Moore also issued a statement, acknowledging that “justice has been served” and expressing appreciation to authorities for pursuing justice over the past 22 years.
“It does not go unnoticed or in vain, as we were constantly reminded that this is justice for a loss that has caused a ripple for generations to come,” the family wrote.
In a separate statement, Sharath Babu Pulluru’s family expressed their enduring love for him, stating that he “will forever live in our hearts.”
