An Alabama man executed for the brutal quadruple homicide of 1997



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ATMORE, Alabama (AP) – A man sentenced to death for his role in a quadruple murder following a dispute over a van was put to death on Thursday night in Alabama, after refusing to make a last call. minute in the coming hours. preceding its execution.

Michael Brandon Samra, 41, was pronounced dead at 19:33. Following an injection of three drugs at Atmore State Prison, the prison authorities announced.

AN ALABAMA HOMIC WILL BE EXECUTED IN 1997 FOR A QUADRUPLE HOMICIDE ON A TRUCK LITIGATION

Samra and a friend, Mark Duke, were convicted of murder in 1997 on the death of Duke's father, his girlfriend, and two daughters of the elementary-aged woman. Both adults were shot dead and the children slaughtered. The evidence showed that Duke had planned the killings because he was angry, his father was not letting him use his pickup truck.

In one last statement, Samra made profession of Christian faith in the house of execution.

"I would like to thank Jesus for all that he has done for me," said Samra as he was lying on a gourd, arms outstretched. He finished with the word "amen".

After the medication started to flow, Samra remained motionless and her chest lifted three times. He took a few deep breaths and his head moved slightly. Then an officer checked when he was still conscious. Moments later, Samra's hands curl up, his chest moving as he breathed a little and his mouth became slightly gaping before he was pronounced dead.

The enforcement procedure began approximately one hour after the scheduled 18:00 hours. Prison Commissioner Jeff Dunn said the delay was no reason. "I knew no problem," Dunn said in a statement.

MAN FACING THE EXECUTION OF A KILLED WIFE KILLED AT MEMPHIS

Dunn also issued a statement from the families of the victims, who thanked the forces of order and the community for their support.

"It was a painful trip, and today justice has been done," the statement said.

Seven family members of the victims had planned to attend the fatal injection, said prison spokesman Bob Horton, but no relatives of Samra wanted to attend.

The detainee had a last phone call with his father on Wednesday, he said. The execution took place a few hours after Samra had met friends and a spiritual advisor.

Steven Sears, Samra's lawyer, said that the detainee had been denied by the office of Governor Kay Ivey about eight hours before the scheduled execution. Ivey staff did not respond to an email requesting a comment.

Although Duke and Samra were both originally convicted of murder and sentenced to death, his sentence was overturned because he was 16 years old at the time, and the Supreme Court subsequently banned him. executing detainees under the age of 18 at the time of their crimes.

Samra was 19 years old at the time and asked the US Supreme Court to defer enforcement, while the Kentucky Supreme Court was considering whether a person under 21 at the time of a crime had to be put to death, but the judges refused.

Samra's request for a stay of governorship rested on similar grounds. In a letter to the governor asking for the mercy of the detainee, Samra's lawyer had stated that his client had confessed to the murders, had expressed remorse and had only participated at Mark Duke's request.

Court documents show that Duke and Samra killed the four men in a house in Pelham, a suburb of Birmingham, on March 23, 1997. The day before, Mark Duke and his father, Randy Duke, had a heated discussion on the subject. refusal of the man to let the son borrow his truck.

After hiring friends in aid, Mark Duke shot his father in the face and Samra shot the man's girlfriend, Dedra Mims Hunt, who survived and escaped into a other part of the house.

Mark Duke found the woman in a bathroom and shot her, according to court documents. At the end of bullets, he then slit the throat of the girl's daughter, Chelisa Hunt, 6 years old. Samra sliced ​​the throat of the woman's 7-year-old daughter, Chelsea Hunt, while she implored mercy as Duke held the child to the ground.

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Two other men, Samra's teenage friends and Mark Duke at the time of the murders, served a prison sentence for lesser roles. David Layne Collums and Michael Lafayette Ellison, both 39, were charged with helping to plan and cover up the murders.

Another execution was made Thursday in Tennnessee, that of Don Johnson, aged 68, sentenced to death for suffocating his wife in 1984 in Memphis.

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