- Thursday, May 09, 2024
One of the victims of the shootings, Sharath Palluru, was in the US to pursue higher studies and was called a ‘smart young man with a kind heart’.
By: Shubham Ghosh
A MAN in his early 40s has been executed in the US for killing two persons, including an Indian national, in Oklahoma. He had fatally shot the duo 22 years ago. The deceased Indian, 24 then, was in the US to receive education and was described as a “smart young man with a kind heart”.
Michael Dewayne Smith was executed through legal injection on Thursday (4) at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester for the decades-old shootings.
A 41-year-old man was executed in the US for shooting dead two people, including an Indian national, in Oklahoma. The fatal shootings took place 22 years ago. The 24-year-old Indian was in the US for education and had a bright future ahead of him. He was described as a “smart young man with a kind heart”.
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The deceased Indian was Sharath Palluru who worked as a clerk at a store. The other victim was Janet Moore, 40.
Oklahoma’s KOCO News reported the state’s attorney general Gentner Drummond as saying in a statement about Smith’s execution that he prayed the day to bring some measure of peace for the families of Palluru and Moore. He called both the victims as “good and decent people who did not deserve their fate”.
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He particularly praised Palluru saying he had a bright future ahead and expressed grief over the killings.
“They were killed simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Drummond said.
In March, Sharath’s brother, Harish Pulluru, strongly objected to granting leniency to Smith, highlighting how Sharath’s death had affected their family.
He called his later brother “a loving son, brother, and uncle” and recounted how he waited at a telephone booth in India for Sharath’s calls after the latter moved to the US, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
The 41-year-old Smith, before his execution, demanded further appeals despite new evidence, saying, “My life is on the line… I am releasing this statement to demand that Mr Henricksen do his job and fight for my life.” He referred to his attorney Mark Henricksen.
