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USA: 2 CONVICTED KILLERS EXECUTED IN OKLAHOMA, ALABAMA
May 14, 2009: A man convicted of battering his girlfriend's 8-year-old son and stuffing the body in a freezer was put to death in Oklahoma, while a man in Alabama was executed for fatally stabbing a mother of six.
Donald Lee Gilson, 48, proclaimed his innocence in the death of Shane Coffman before he was injected in Oklahoma with a lethal combination of drugs.
He became the second person to be executed this year in Oklahoma.
In 1998, Gilson was convicted of first-degree murder in Shane's death in 1995.
The girlfriend agreed to testify against Gilson in exchange for a life prison sentence without the possibility of parole.
Megan Little, a juror in the case, said jurors were not told about Bertha Coffman's deal with prosecutors and that "had I known what I know now, I never would have given him death."
In Alabama, a man on death row for fatally stabbing a 68-year-old retired textile worker nearly 20 years ago was given a lethal injection at Holman Prison near Atmore.
The six adult children of victim Ella Foy Riley watched as 44-year-old Willie McNair was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m. He became the fourth person executed in the state this year.
McNair's attorneys filed a stay of execution earlier in the week, citing a jury recommendation that he be given life without parole, but the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block the execution hours earlier. (Sources: Ap, 14/05/2009)
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