SENTENCE SERVED

Man Who Killed Elderly Woman Executed in Texas After Questioning Trial Evidence

Jedidiah Murphy’s lawyers argued lethal injection drugs used to kill him may have been damaged by a fire.

A convicted killer who questioned evidence used to convince a jury to sentence him to death was executed in Texas late Tuesday. Jedidiah Murphy, 48, had been sentenced to die over the fatal shooting of Bertie Lee Cunningham, 80, in October 2000. Although Murphy admitted killing Cunningham, he always maintained that he had not committed two robberies or a kidnapping prosecutors used to convince jurors during the death penalty stage of Murphy’s trial that he would be a danger in the future, which is a legal requirement to obtain a death penalty in Texas. His attorneys asked for DNA testing of evidence presented during Murphy’s 2001 trial, and on Tuesday afternoon also requested a stay of execution over claims the drugs that would be used to carry out his sentence could have been damaged during a fire at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. The appeals failed, and Murphy was executed on Tuesday—the World Day Against the Death Penalty.