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A man convicted of double homicide was put to death Tuesday by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, telling supporters, “I love y’all,” as victims’ relatives looked on—later saying the smile on his face in the death chamber was the same one that tormented them for two decades.
Kendrick Simpson, 45, was convicted of fatally shooting Anthony Jones, 19, and Glen Palmer, 20, after an altercation between Simpson and Palmer at an Oklahoma City nightclub in 2006.
“I love y’all,” Simpson said inside the death chamber. “Thank y’all for being here to support me.”
Rev. Don Heath, Simpson’s spiritual advisor, read Scripture during the execution, which lasted less than 15 minutes.
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Doctors determined Simpson, who became a published poet behind bars, was unconscious about five minutes in, and later pronounced him dead.
Family members of the victims who attended the execution told The Associated Press they were unsettled by Simpson’s demeanor in the death chamber.
“The same smile that had been tormenting me for 20 years, he still smiled that same smile laying on his deathbed,” said Palmer’s sister, Crystal Allison.
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Attorney General Gentner Drummond wrote in a statement he hoped Simpson’s execution gave the victims’ families “some measure of peace.”
“Justice has been served for Glen Palmer and Anthony Jones. Their young lives were taken tragically and far too soon,” Drummond wrote. “I hope today brings some measure of peace to their families who have endured unimaginable pain for the past 20 years.”
Department of Corrections officials said Simpson’s last meal Wednesday included a bacon cheeseburger, large onion rings and a strawberry milkshake, according to a report from The Oklahoman.
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In January 2006, Simpson and his friends followed Palmer and Jones from a nearby gas station and Simpson opened fire into their car, killing the two men, according to prosecutors.
Lawyers argued Simpson, who moved to Oklahoma City from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, had a diagnosis of PTSD resulting from the collapse of access to basic necessities in the wake of the natural disaster, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Simpson was also a victim of gun violence — he was shot five times in November 2004 in a New Orleans drive-by shooting, according to The Oklahoman.
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During a clemency hearing in January, Simpson apologized for the killings and said he does not make excuses.
“I don’t make any excuses,” Simpson said at the time. “I don’t blame others, and they didn’t deserve what happened to them.”
Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board denied clemency and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal to block the execution.
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Simpson’s execution marked the first of the year in Oklahoma, and the second of the year in the U.S.
Ronald Palmer Heath, 64, was put to death in Florida on Tuesday after being convicted of killing a man during a botched armed robbery in 1989.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
