Britsh man executed for teen murder
A British man who had spent 16 years on death row has been executed after the US Supreme Court rejected a last-minute appeal to spare his life.
Suffolk-born Jackie Elliott died by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas. He had been convicted of the rape and murder of a teenager in 1986.
Attempts by his lawyers to get an 11th hour stay of execution to allow further DNA tests that they said could have proved his innocence were earlier turned down by the Supreme Court.
Asked by the warden of Huntsville prison if he had anything to say, Elliott mouthed: ``No sir'' and nodded his head.
He then closed his eyes and as the drugs began to take effect he gave a slight snort, cough and gasp before slipping into unconsciousness.
Witnesses, including his son and a sister, prayed aloud as they watched the execution.
Elliott was pronounced dead at 1.09am Irish time.
Hugh Southey, one of Elliott's lawyers, said the entire legal team were ``extremely disappointed''.
He said: “Whether or not you agree with the death penalty, it cannot be satisfactory to have a potentially innocent man executed without doing every test possible to determine if he actually committed the crime.”
Elliott, 42, always denied raping and killing 19-year-old Joyce Munguia.
He claimed he was convicted because of the testimony of police informers covering their own guilt.
Richard Bourke, another of Elliot’s lawyers, said the evidence they had would have been “more than enough” to reverse the conviction in both Britain and Australia.
The DNA tests would be done as a matter of routine in a case brought to trial today, he added.
Amnesty International and anti death penalty group, Reprieve UK, held a vigil outside Westminster Abbey to protest the execution.
