Killer who refused to appeal is executed
A killer who refused to appeal because it would bring more torment to the families of his five victims has been executed in Arkansas.
Clay King Smith, 30, died yesterday for the 1998 killings of his ex-girlfriend, her cousin and three children.
"I’d like to say I’m sorry about what I did to the victims’ families," Smith said before his death. "I hope your hearts can heal. I love my family. I love my family."
Smith had written to the families telling them he would not challenge his death sentence if it would cause them more pain. With their permission, he said, he would have fought for his life. Word from the families never came.
Brenda Bratton, the mother of one of the victims, said Smith had written to her and said, "something woke him up and told him to kill."
Smith’s execution was Arkansas’ 24th since it resumed killing death row inmates in 1990.
In all, 712 people have been executed in the United States since the Supreme Court lifted a moratorium on the death penalty in 1976.
