MOSCOW, January 30 (Sputnik) — Robert Ladd, convicted of murdering a woman, was executed in the US state of Texas late Thursday, despite claims by his attorney that he is severely mentally disabled, Al Jazeera America reported.
Prison officials confirmed that Ladd was put to death by lethal injection. According to Al Jazeera, as the drug took effect, Ladd said: "Stings my arm, man!"
Ladd was convicted in 1996 of beating 38-year-old Vicki Ann Garner to death.
On Tuesday, Ladd’s attorneys at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) issued a statement, including a 1970 psychiatric evaluation containing a conclusion by a doctor that Ladd was “obviously retarded,” Al Jazeera said. The court rejected an appeal on Ladd's death sentence.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals also rejected attorney claims that the substance used by Texas for executions may cause unconstitutional pain and suffering.
In the United States the death penalty is legal in 32 out of 50 states. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there were 3,035 people on a death row as of October 2014.
Some executions carried out in the United States have reportedly caused the convicted person to suffer, as in a 2014 case where Dennis McGuire was killed using a previously untried drug mixture. It took McGuire an unexpectedly long time to die and the witnesses reported that after receiving the injection he repeatedly clenched his fists and gasped for air.
