A Texas man was put to death on Sept. 26 for the torture and killing of a woman in May 1998, according to reports.
The Associated Press reported that Troy Clark, a drug dealer, denied killing Christina Muse before his execution. He laughed as he talked to several friends who were watching the execution from a window, telling them that he loved them and “it’s all good.”
“I’m not the one who killed Christina,” he also said. “But, hey, whatever makes you happy.”
As a lethal dose of pentobarbital was administered, he kept laughing and said the drug “burned.” He added: “I feel it” before officials pronounced him dead 21 minutes later.
Margaret Bouman, the aunt of Muse, saw the execution and said: “I’m a Christian and the death penalty and accepting it was very, very difficult for me.”
“But I also believe the law of the land is important,” she said, adding that Clark’s demeanor during the execution was disturbing.
According to the Texas Tribune, Clark had been accused by prosecutors of two other murders and several other crimes. Prosecutors said that he beat and drowned Muse before putting her remains in a barrel filled with concrete.
Fentanyl Execution
Last month, Nebraska carried out its first execution since 1997, putting Carey Dean Moore to death for the slayings of two taxi cab drivers. The case is notable because Nebraska became the first state to use fentanyl, an opioid that has been blamed for the overdose deaths of thousands of Americans each year.Moore was convicted in 1979 for killing Reuel Van Ness and Maynard Helgeland in Omaha.
It prompted two pharmaceutical to file a lawsuit against the state of Nebraska before dropping the suit, Omaha.com reported. Both firms, Fresenius Kabi and Sandoz, made a late attempt to try and block the state from carrying out Moore’s execution, saying they would suffer financial harm if their fentanyl products were linked to a lethal injection.
Moore, 60, spent 38 years on death row before the execution was carried out.
