Two death row murderers were executed in the United States on Wednesday. In Arizona, 76-year-old African-American Murray Hooper died by lethal injection, Attorney General Mark Brnovich said. Hooper had been sentenced to the maximum sentence for double murder nearly 40 years ago. Stephen Barbee, 55, was executed in a Texas prison in the evening.
According to the indictment, Hooper broke into a home in Phoenix on New Year’s Eve 1980 with two accomplices. The three would have tied up and shot the three residents of the house in the head. A man and his mother-in-law died, the woman survived and later identified all three burglars. In 1983 they were sentenced to death. His accomplices died before the death penalty could be carried out, and Hooper maintained his innocence to the end.
Barbee was sentenced to death in 2008 for the murder of his pregnant ex-girlfriend and their seven-year-old son. Barbee initially admitted to the crime, but later retracted his confession, saying he was coerced into confessing by the police. Since his conviction, he has been embroiled in a legal battle with the judiciary and has had two suspended sentences. His lawyers filed a final appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, but the appeal was rejected.
With Hooper and Barbee, 15 people were executed in the United States that year.
Source: Krone
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