Oklahoma execution part of surge amid declining support
In Oklahoma, Wendell Grissom was executed for killing a woman during a robbery in 2005. His execution is one of four planned in the USA this week.
What do you need to know?
- Wendell Grissom was executed in Oklahoma for a 2005 murder. The execution took place in the town of McAlester, where Grissom was put to death by lethal injection.
- It's one of four executions planned in the USA this week. Other executions took place in Louisiana and Arizona, with another planned in Florida.
- Support for the death penalty in the USA is declining. Currently, it stands at 53 percent, the lowest level in fifty years.
Fifty-six-year-old Wendell Grissom was executed on Thursday in Oklahoma by lethal injection. He was convicted of a murder committed in 2005 when, during a robbery, he shot a 23-year-old woman in the head; the victim later died in a hospital from her injuries. The accomplice in the robbery was sentenced to life imprisonment, reports the Associated Press.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond described the murder as a textbook case deserving of the death penalty.
Death sentence for the murderer
The execution of Wendell Grissom is one of four planned in the USA this week, writes AP. In Louisiana, the sentence was carried out by nitrogen asphyxiation, in Arizona by lethal injection; the last planned execution is set for later on Thursday in Florida.
It is also the 128th execution in Oklahoma since 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated in the USA. Although it is still practiced in many states, it has been abolished in 144 countries worldwide.
Donald Trump, even before taking office as president, announced the reinstatement of the death penalty in federal prisons.
"As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters. We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!" Trump declared on his Truth Social platform.
Support for the death penalty in the United States is currently at its lowest level in fifty years. According to Gallup polls, 53 percent of Americans support the death penalty, yet over half of young adults aged 18 to 43 are opposed to it.
