Oklahoma Department of Corrections / Ken Piorkowski, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, Cropped by Resist the Mainstream

Michael DeWayne Smith, a 41-year-old inmate on Oklahoma's death row, was executed Thursday morning for the murders of Janet Moore, 41, and Sharath Pulluru, 22, which occurred in February 2002.

Smith received a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and was pronounced dead at 10:20 a.m., according to CBS News.

When asked if he had any last words before meeting his final reward, Smith paradoxically replied, “Nah, I'm good.”

Family members of Janet Moore, one of Smith's victims, were present during the execution. A statement read on their behalf by Attorney General Gentner Drummond declared, “justice has been served.”

Smith was the first individual executed by the state in 2024, marking Oklahoma's 12th execution since the resumption of capital punishment in 2021. His request for an emergency stay of execution was denied by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.

During a clemency hearing, Smith expressed his apologies to the victims' families, insisting on his innocence.

“I didn’t commit these crimes. I didn’t kill these people,” Smith told the parole board. “I was high on drugs. I don't even remember getting arrested,” Smith said with tears on his face.

Despite his plea, the board voted 4-1 to deny clemency.

Prosecutors described Smith as a gang member seeking revenge, alleging he confessed to the killings to police and two other individuals. They argued that Moore was targeted as Smith mistakenly believed her son had informed the police about his location, and Pulluru was murdered for purportedly disrespecting Smith's gang in a newspaper interview.

Smith's attorney, Mark Henricksen, contended his client was intellectually disabled, exacerbated by extensive drug use, and argued that Smith's confession, made during a PCP-induced haze, was unreliable.

Opposition to Smith's execution was voiced by the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, which staged a protest outside the Governor's Mansion. Despite appeals from Smith's family and new claims of witness coercion, the execution proceeded according to plan.

Drummond reflected on the victims, describing Moore as the family's cornerstone and Pulluru as an educational pioneer for his family in the United States.

“Janet and Sharath were murdered simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time; that was all. I am grateful that justice has been served,” Drummond stated.