By Associated Press
McAlester, OK – Oklahoma man executed for 1996 killing
McALESTER, Okla. (AP) A Muldrow man has been executed for the 1996 shooting death of a fisherman along the Arkansas River in eastern Oklahoma.
Donald Ray Wackerly received a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. Thursday.
Wackerly was convicted in the shooting death of 51-year-old Pan Sayakhoummane (sy-ak-hoo-MAHN'-ee) during a robbery in Sequoyah County.
The Laos native from Fort Smith, Ark., was shot between seven and nine times with a .22-caliber rifle. His body was found the next day in his partly submerged pickup truck in the Arkansas River.
As the execution began, Wackerly acknowledged his attorney and winked at a relative. He started speaking but was drowned out by two Buddhist monks who recited the six-syllable mantra, "Om mani padme hum."
Wackerly, a converted Buddhist, then joined in the chant.