US inmate executed in electric chair by own choice

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2006

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A convicted murderer in Virginia was executed by electric chair after declaring his preference for that method over lethal injection, prison officials said.

Brandon Hedrick, 27, was pronounced dead shortly after 9:00pm (0100 GMT, Friday), the Watch Commander of the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, southern Virginia told AFP. He did not know if Hedrick had made a final statement.

It was the first execution by electrocution in the United States since 2004, amid growing concerns over whether lethal injection, the preferred method, is itself a humane technique for carrying out death sentences.

In Texas, meanwhile, the state executed its second death row convict in as many days late Thursday. Robert Anderson, 40, was convicted for...