Oklahoma Executes Double Murderer

An Oklahoma gang member who killed two people in 2002 was put to death today by lethal injection.  Emily Mae Czachor of CBS News reports that Michael DeWayne Smith died ten minutes after injection.  A mountain of evidence including his detailed confession resulted in his conviction and death sentence, but in multiple appeals Smith claimed that he was innocent.  Facts presented in an April 26, 2007 decision by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals indicate that on February 22, 2002 Smith left his apartment armed with a .357 magnum revolver.  He went to the apartment of 41-year-old Janet Moore, whose son Smith believed had snitched on his fellow gang members regarding a robbery.  He kicked in the apartment door and, after learning that the son was not there, Smith fatally shot Moore.  He then went to a convenience store and murdered 22-year-old clerk Sarath Pulluru, took some money and set the store on fire.  He later went to a friend’s apartment and told a woman that he had killed Moore and some person at a “chink” store.  At the time of his arrest, Smith was wanted by police for an earlier killing.

Following his conviction and death sentence Smith’s attorneys filed multiple appeals arguing that one of the potential jurors was excluded because of their race, that the evidence was not sufficient to convict him of the convenience store killing, and that his drug use and low IQ made him less culpable for the murders.  All of these claims, and several others were rejected by several courts.

The fact that an absolutely guilty cold-blooded killer like Smith was afforded twenty-two years to challenge his conviction and sentence in multiple state and federal courts demonstrates how thorough the nation’s criminal justice process is at protecting the rights of the accused.