OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma death row inmate Michael Hooper has been executed for the 1993 shooting deaths of his former girlfriend and her two young children.
Hooper received a lethal dose of drugs Tuesday evening at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. The 40-year-old was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m.
Hooper sued the state last month in an effort to halt his execution, claiming the state's three-drug lethal injection protocol was unconstitutional. But the request was rejected by the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court earlier Tuesday.
Hooper was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for killing his former girlfriend, 23-year-old Cynthia Jarman, and her two children, 5-year-old Tonya and 3-year-old Timmy.
He is the fourth Oklahoma death row inmate to be executed this year.