TEXAS EXECUTIONS: 400 AND COUNTING

Johnny Ray Conner, 32, was killed Wednesday. He was condemned for killing a store clerk in 1998.

The BBC reports:

Earlier this week, the EU urged Texas to end the "cruel and inhumane" practice. Texas's governor said it was a "just and appropriate" punishment.

Members of Conner's family and that of the victim, Kathyanna Nguyen, witnessed the execution through windows in the death chamber.

Before he was put to death, Conner - who had always maintained his innocence - asked for forgiveness and expressed love to his family and Ms Nguyen's family.

"What is happening to me is unjust and the system is broken," he said in his final statement.

His final words were: "I bear witness there is no God but Allah and the Prophet Muhammad. Unto Allah, I belong, unto Allah I return. I love you."

In all, the United States has executed 1,090 inmates since the death penalty was resurrected in 1976.

SUPREMES NIX MISSOURI EXECUTION

The U.S. Supreme Court declared Monday that William Weaver cannot be put to death for his role in a 1987 killing, because a prosecutor went too far in his closing argument.

Weaver was sentenced to die for killing Charles Taylor near St. Louis. The motive: Taylor was about to testify in a drug trial involving some of Weaver's acquaintances.

George "Buzz" Westfall was the prosecutor of St. Louis County; he won the death case against Weaver and co-defendant Daryl Shurn.

Shurn's sentence was later vacated by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals because of Westfall's inflammatory rhetoric.

Monday, the Supreme Court vacated Weaver's death sentence. The Associated Press reports:

The court said in an unsigned opinion that the state’s appeal of lower federal court rulings that threw out the death sentence should not have been accepted because of procedural quirks.

Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented, saying they would have reinstated Weaver’s death sentence. Missouri state courts had upheld the sentence. ...

During the sentencing phase, the prosecutor repeatedly urged jurors to "look beyond William Weaver" in considering the death penalty and send a message to drug dealers.

Westfall also referenced Gen. George Patton in his closing argument, telling jurors that sometimes you have to kill to do the right thing.

Look beyond William Weaver. Look in your heart. State-sponsored killing solves nothing.

BOOTS ON, 'LIKE THE COWBOYS'

Robert Perez was 48 when he was executed Tuesday evening for a 1994 double-murder in San Antonio. It was the seventh time this year that Texas has executed a killer. Wednesday will bring another state-ordered lethal injection.

But back to Perez. He led a prison gang and, authorities said, ordered more than a dozen killings in San Antonio during the 1990s. Especially heinous was the 1997 slayings of five people -- the West French Place killings. Perez didn't pull a trigger, but he was general of the Mexican Mafia, according to prosecutors.

A bad man, sure. But he had his charms. The Associated Press reports:

Jeff Mulliner, who was an assistant Bexar County district attorney who also helped prosecute Perez, said Perez was "someone who did bad things and has a whole dimensional shading to his character." But Mulliner, now in private practice, also found Perez to have "an abundance of charisma, a keen intellect, a sharp wit and a sense of humor."

"I kind of appreciated all those things about him," Mulliner said. "Other than French Place, which is a footnote, I believe part of the honor of Robert Perez is he was not dangerous to an elderly lady trying to cross the street or to a young man on the bus to work. I think the only people in danger from Robert Perez were people he was associated with that didn't follow the rules."

Among his last words: "I got my boots on like the cowboys."