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OKLAHOMA (USA): GEORGE OCHOA PUT TO DEATH
December 4, 2012: George Ochoa, 38, Hispanic, was executed in Oklahoma.
Ochoa was 1 of 2 men convicted of 1st-degree murder in the July 12, 1993 shooting deaths of Francisco Morales, 38, and Maria Yanez, 35.
Investigators say Morales and and his co-defendant, Osbaldo Torres, 37, killed the couple in their bedroom. Torres, a Mexican citizen, was also convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in the shootings, but his sentence was reduced by then-Gov. Brad Henry in 2004.
Henry imposed a sentence of life without parole after Mexican government officials raised concerns that Torres was not given a chance to speak with the Mexican consulate after being accused, as required by international conventions.
Ochoa becomes the 6th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Oklahoma, the 102nd overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1990, the 41st to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1318th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (Sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin, 04/12/2012)
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