Benjamin Cole, 57, was executed by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, the local Department of Corrections reported.
Cole had been on so-called Death Row in this south-central US state since 2004 for the murder of his nine-month-old daughter, Brianna. He was accused of killing the girl to silence her because of her crying so he could continue playing a video game.
Local journalists who testified as witnesses said Cole made a rambling statement two minutes before receiving the injection, saying “Jesus is my personal lord and savior,” and urging people to “choose Jesus while you still can.” .
“I forgive everyone I’ve hurt,” he murmured, according to reports.
Cole’s lawyers had appealed to the Supreme Court to stay the execution, arguing that Cole suffered from a “debilitating mental illness” and that the US Constitution prohibits the execution of someone who is mentally incompetent.
Cole had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and brain damage, his lawyers said, and his condition had deteriorated to the point where he was “largely catatonic.”
“He cannot manage his own basic hygiene and crawls on the cell floor if he does not have a wheelchair,” they said.
But lower courts rejected claims that Cole was mentally incompetent and the Supreme Court dismissed last-minute appeals to stay the execution without comment.
According to Oklahoma authorities, “Cole’s claim of incompetence is based on experts who have had no real conversations with him about his execution,” stressing that Cole had expressed “very clearly” his understanding of his punishment.”
This is the 12th execution this year in the United States and the fourth in the state of Oklahoma, which, after a pause linked to doubts about the legality of its injection protocol, has several similar procedures planned in the coming months.
The entrance Sentenced to death executed in the US despite doubts about his mental health was first published in diary TODAY.
