Murderers Executed in Texas, Virginia; 46 Have Died Since Death Penalty Resumed
Texas and Virginia executed murderers Tuesday, the 45th and 46th persons to be put to death in the United States since the resumption of capital punishment in 1976.
Morris Odell Mason, a mentally retarded man, died in the Virginia State Penitentiary’s electric chair at Richmond at 11:07 p.m. He was convicted of murdering an elderly woman, nailing her hand to a chair and then setting her house ablaze during a crime spree.
Hours before the execution, the Supreme Court turned down Mason’s appeal by a 7-2 vote.
Charles Milton, his last-minute appeals denied by two federal and two state courts, was executed by lethal injection at dawn Tuesday in the Texas State Prison at Huntsville.
He died for the 1977 slaying of a Fort Worth liquor store owner.
Gov. Mark White turned down last-minute efforts to block the execution.
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