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#Post#: 627--------------------------------------------------
~ Michael Smith, 04Apr24, (OK) ~
By: BuzzC Date: February 28, 2024, 9:08 pm
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Oklahoma AG asks Pardon and Parole Board to deny clemency for
Michael Dewayne Smith--
Friday, February 23rd, 2024
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Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond requested that the
Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board deny clemency for death row
inmate Michael Dewayne Smith.
He was convicted of murdering two people, 40-year-old Janet
Moore and 24-year-old store clerk Sharath Pulluru, in separate
incidents on Feb. 22, 2002.
Smith's clemency hearing is set for March 6, and he's scheduled
to be executed on April 4.
"Michael Smith’s outrageous claims of innocence have been
repeatedly rejected in court," Drummond said in a news release.
"He is a ruthless killer who has confessed to his crimes on
multiple occasions. There is no doubt in my mind that his
request for clemency should be denied."
The Attorney General's Office says Smith killed Moore and
Pulluru in a "double-murder spree simply because they were in
the wrong place at the wrong time." Authorities also said Smith,
who was a member of the Oak Grove Posse Kerr Village Crips, was
seeking revenge for the death of a fellow gang member.
During the 2002 murders, officials said Smith was a fugitive on
the run for a separate killing.
Drummond also said in the news release that Smith's confession
was corroborated by evidence at both murder scenes. The attorney
general also said Smith's claims of intellectual disability are
statutorily ineligible due to his IQ scores.
8)
#Post#: 630--------------------------------------------------
Re: ~ Michael Smith, 04Apr24, (OK) ~
By: BuzzC Date: April 4, 2024, 3:14 am
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This dude dies at 11 a.m. EDT (10 a.m. CDT., 9 a.m. MDT., 8 a.m.
PDT., 7 a.m. ADT., 5 a.m. HDT), today!
#Post#: 631--------------------------------------------------
Re: ~ Michael Smith, 04Apr24, (OK) ~
By: BuzzC Date: April 4, 2024, 3:52 pm
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Oklahoma executes Michael Dewayne Smith for 2002 killings--
Thursday, April 4th, 2024
April 4 (UPI) -- The state of Oklahoma executed its first death
row inmate of 2024 Thursday morning.
Michael Dewayne Smith, 41, was executed by lethal injection at
the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester for the murders of
40-year-old Janet Moore and 24-year-old Sharath Pulluru in
February 2002.
Smith, who was then 19 years old and a member of a street gang
called the Oak Grove Posse, shot Moore in her apartment while he
was looking for her son, whom he accused of being a snitch.
He then went to the A&Z Food Mart in south Oklahoma City and
shot Pulluru, the store clerk, whom he believed made comments to
local media about another clerk shooting and killing a gang
member in a 2000 robbery.
Pulluru, who did not make those comments, was shot nine times,
doused with lighter fluid and set on fire.
Smith also was a fugitive on the run for his involvement in the
2001 murder of Otis Payne outside of the Lexus Club in Oklahoma
City. He was sentenced to life in prison after admitting he
handed the gun to Payne's killer, David Burns.
An Oklahoma jury in 2003 convicted Smith of first-degree
burglary, two counts of first-degree murder, robbery with
firearms and arson in the first degree. He was sentenced to
death for the two murders.
Smith prior to execution had maintained his innocence. He said
he was on PCP when the killings happened and had no memory of
committing the crimes, being arrested or confessing.
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board in March denied Smith's
plea for clemency in a 4-1 vote.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond in a statement on
Thursday said, "Janet and Sharath were murdered simply because
they were in the wrong place at the wrong time; that was all. I
am grateful that justice has been served."
Before his execution, Smith in a statement said, "My life is on
the line. Despite new evidence, my attorney Mark Henricksen has
informed my family that he will be filing no further appeals on
my behalf. I am releasing this statement to demand that Mr.
Henricksen do his job and fight for my life."
Smith's attorney's earlier this year filed a motion requesting
DNA testing, which the District Court of Oklahoma denied,
arguing Smith "failed to demonstrate a reasonable probability
that he would not have been convicted if DNA testing is
conducted and yields favorable results."
The Rev. Don Heath, chair of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish
the Death Penalty, responded to Smith's execution in a
statement, saying Smith "was a troubled and vulnerable young man
with intellectual disabilities," and that he was "ill-served by
advisers who encouraged him to proclaim his innocence instead of
accepting responsibility for his crimes."
"That cost him any chance for clemency. He needed mercy and
forgiveness and got none."
While executions have decreased nationwide, Oklahoma has ramped
up executions after a nearly six-year moratorium ended in 2021.
The state set execution dates for 25 people in 2022.
There was a short delay in the scheduled executions in 2023 when
the state agreed to schedule executions at least 60 days apart.
8)
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