ALABAMA (USA): DERRICK O'NEAL MASON EXECUTED
September 22, 2011: Derrick O'Neal Mason, 37, black, has been executed. He was sentenced to die in 1995 after being convicted of killing 25-year-old Angela Cagle during the attempted robbery of a convenience store on March 26, 1994.
Mason apologized to the victim's family in his final statement. Gov. Robert Bentley on Wednesday afternoon declined to commute Mason's sentence to life in prison without the chance of parole. Retired Madison County Circuit Court Judge Loyd Little wanted the governor to commute the death sentence, saying he had been on the bench 6 months when he issued his ruling and has since realized "it really was not the right decision."
Mason is the 5th condemned inmate executed in Alabama this year, the 54th to be put to death since Alabama resumed capital punishment in 1983. Mason becomes the 36th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1270th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (Sources: Huntsville Times & Rick Halperin, 22/09/2011)
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