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TEXAS (USA): MICHAEL YOWELL EXECUTED
October 9, 2013: Michael Yowell, 43, White, was executed in Texas.
A Lubbock County jury convicted Yowell and sentenced him to death in 1999 for killing both his parents in May of 1998.
Yowell tried to delay his execution by joining a lawsuit with 2 other condemned prisoners that challenged Texas prison officials' recent purchase of a new supply of pentobarbital for his scheduled lethal injection. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the appeal minutes before Yowell was taken to the Texas death chamber Wednesday evening.
The prisoners argued use of the sedative could cause unconstitutional pain and suffering because the drug, replacing a similar inventory that expired at the end of September, was made by a compounding pharmacy not subjected to strict federal scrutiny.
The lawsuit sought an injunction to delay the execution and gain more time to ensure "the integrity and legality" of the drug and be certain its use was within constitutional protections. Attorneys for the inmates took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court after lower federal courts ruled that the drug appeared adequate and that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice did nothing wrong in acquiring it.
Yowell's parents, John, 55, and Carol, 53, were found dead in the wreckage of their home following an explosion on Mother's Day weekend in 1998. Yowell's 89-year-old grandmother, Viola Davis died days later of injuries suffered in the blast.
Yowell becomes the 14th inmate to be put to death this year in Texas, the 506th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982, the 30th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1350th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. There are 8 more scheduled executions in the USA during the remainder of the year, including 3 more later this month, 4 in November and 1 set for December.
In 2012, the USA carried out a total of 43 executions. (Sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin, 09/10/2013)
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