Michael Dewayne Smith was convicted of killing two people in Oklahoma City, one of whom was a South Asian man, more than 20 years ago. On Thursday morning, he was executed at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
On February 22, 2002, Smith shot and killed Sharath Pulluru and Janet Moore in two separate incidents.
According to CBS News, doctors administered the lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 10:20 a.m. His son Phillip Zachary Jr. and niece Morgan Miller-Perkins watched through one-way glass.
When given the opportunity to say any last words, Smith replied “Nah, I’m good.”
Back in 2021, the state reinstated the death penalty. This makes Smith (41) the 12th person executed since then and the first person executed this year.
“Janet and Sharath were murdered simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time; that was all,” Attorney General Genter Drummond said. “I am grateful that justice has been served.”
Pulluru, an Indian student from Andhra Pradesh, worked as a convenience store clerk. Smith mistook Pulluru for another worker who made comments about his gang to the local newspaper, USA Today reports.
At 19-years-old, Smith shot and killed Pulluru (22) with nine bullets.
That day, he also murdered Janet Moore (41).
According to USA Today, Smith was looking for her son who he believed was a police informant. He went to their house and shot and killed the mother.
“It’s her fault she died,” Smith told police. “She panicked and she got shot. … She like, ‘Help! Help!’ I’m like, I had to. I had no choice.”
During his clemency hearing last month, Smith continued to deny responsibility.
“I didn’t commit these crimes. I didn’t kill these people,” Smith said per CBS News. I was high on drugs. I don’t even remember being arrested.”
The court denied him in clemency.
Thursday morning, Smith’s attorneys requested that he get a stay of execution. They argued that his police confession was inadequate.
Mark Henrickesen, Smith’s attorney, claimed that Smith’s combination of intellectual disabilities and heavy drug use should spare him his life. Arguing that he was in a “PCP-induced haze” while admitting to the murders, Henrickesen fought for his client to spend the rest of his life is prison.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied the stay of execution.
In a statement, Pulluru was described as “an inspiration to his family” and Moore “a rock for her family.”
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
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