Two men have been executed by lethal injection, one in Mississippi and the other in Idaho, bringing to 21 the number of prisoners put to death in the United States this year, authorities said Wednesday. Richard Leavitt, 53, who was sentenced to death for the murder and mutilation of a woman nearly 30 years ago, was executed by the state of Idaho on Tuesday, only the second in the state in 17 years.
Leavitt had filed numerous appeals with the courts since his sentencing in 1985, but the US Supreme Court rejected his last appeal on May 14. For the first time, witnesses were allowed to attend all stages of the execution after several news organisations sued for access.
In Mississippi, 34-year-old Jan Michael Brawner was put to death Tuesday for the quadruple murder in 2001 of his ex-wife, their three year old daughter and his ex-wife's parents. There are 51 inmates on death row in Mississippi, which has carried out five executions so far this year, the same number as Texas, the state that has put to death the most people since the United States restored capital punishment in 1976.