US executes two murder convicts who maintained innocence all along

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In the US, two inmates who were on death row were executed on Wednesday.

One of them was a septuagenarian executed in Arizona nearly 40 years after receiving a death sentence for a double homicide. The other man was put to death in Texas for the deaths of his ex-girlfriend and her young son in 2006. Lethal injection was used in both executions.

Murray Hooper

Murray Hooper, a 76-year-old African American, died in the Florence penitentiary, the state's attorney general, Mark Brnovich, announced in a statement. However, until the moment he died, Hooper was still insisting that he was innocent. 

For "those who commit heinous crimes," Brnovich said, "we must never forget the victims or cease to pursue what justice demands."

#AnthonyBroadwater was found guilty of raping #AliceSebold in 1982. He served almost 16 years in jail and was on the sex offenders' register for 23 years. He was exonerated by a #NewYork court on November 22 when it was proven that he had been innocent all along. pic.twitter.com/NBsdsAkKPN

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) December 4, 2021

Older prisoners who have spent decades watching their cases move through the legal system are frequently found on US death row. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, nearly a quarter of those who were on death row at the end of 2020 was over 60.

On New Year's Eve 1980, Hooper and two accomplices broke into a house in Phoenix to rob it, tied up the three occupants, and shot each of them in the head, according to prosecutors.

Hooper had maintained his innocence but never obtained an acquittal.

Stephen Barbee

In Texas, prison authorities executed Stephen Barbee, 55, later Wednesday. His ex-girlfriend, who was pregnant at the time, and her son, who was seven years old, were killed, and he received the death sentence in 2006.

As part of his final statement before dying, Barbee said, "I'm ready to go home. I'm ready warden, send me home," according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Barbee initially admitted to the crime but later changed his mind, accusing the police of forcing him into making a false confession.

He received two suspended sentences since his initial conviction.

His attorneys made one last appeal to the US Supreme Court on Tuesday, but the court denied a stay.

In the appeal, prison wardens were criticized for not having a written policy on the religious rights of prisoners in the execution chamber.

The Supreme Court's conservative majority has little sympathy for the arguments of death row inmates.

Barbee became the 15th death row inmate to be executed in the United States this year.