Nation : Killer, Elvis Impersonator, Executed

An Elvis Presley impersonator who was described as “Satan personified” was executed by injection early today for one of five slayings he was accused of committing.

James Paster, 44, a one-time lounge singer, was pronounced dead at 12:17 a.m. Paster’s attorney, who spoke with him by phone shortly before the execution, described his client as “upbeat,”

Paster was sentenced to death for the 1980 contract killing of a 38-year-old Houston man. The victim’s ex-wife, who paid Paster $1,000 and a motorcycle for the murder, is serving a life term. Paster was also convicted of murdering an 18-year-old Conroe woman. He also pleaded guilty to the slaying of another woman and has confessed to killing two other Houston-area women, although he never was tried for those offenses.

In April, Paster and another condemned killer unsuccessfully tried to escape from death row by squeezing through a 1-foot-square air vent and sawing through an exhaust fan opening. “I’m about as smart as a box of rocks,” Paster said after his capture.