Arkansas carries out first execution since 2005

CUMMINS UNIT, Ark.— Arkansas death row inmate Ledell Lee was executed by lethal injection Thursday night, KATV reported.

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The lethal injection process began at 11:44 p.m. and Lee was pronounced dead at 11:56 p.m., according to the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Officials said Lee did not make a final statement, KATV reported. It was the first execution in Arkansas since 2005.

Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied five last-minute stays of execution requested by Lee, 51, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge told CNN.

Lee was convicted in 1995 in the 1993 beating death of his neighbor, Debra Reese.

Lee’s death warrant had been scheduled to expire at midnight.

Arkansas planned to carry out back-to-back executions on Thursday night at the state prison, located southeast of Little Rock. But that was abandoned when a state court blocked one of those lethal injections, and officials instead focused solely on plans to execute Lee, the Chicago Tribune reported.

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Bob D’Angelo, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

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