Wesley Ira Purkey became the second federal inmate executed in a week after a 17 year pause in federal executions. Purkey, 68, was executed by lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, IN, at 8:19 a.m. local time.
He was convicted in the 1998 kidnapping and killing of 16-year-old Jennifer Long, whose body was dismembered, burned and dumped in a septic pond. That same year, Purkey also was convicted in a state court in Kansas after using a claw hammer to kill an 80-year-old woman who had polio.
“I deeply regret the pain and suffering I caused to Jennifer’s family,” Purkey said in the moments before his execution. “I am deeply sorry. I deeply regret the pain I caused to my daughter, who I love so very much. This sanitized murder really does not serve no purpose whatsoever.”
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The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for his execution just hours before, giving the go-ahead in a 5-4 decision. The Supreme Court this week has also lifted a hold placed on other executions set for Friday and next month. Dustin Honken, a drug kingpin from Iowa convicted of killing five people in a scheme to silence former dealers, is scheduled for execution Friday.