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Japan | Hakamada found religion, but then felt under attack by ‘the devil’

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Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series on letters that Iwao Hakamada wrote while on death row. About a decade after cursing God, Iwao Hakamada was baptized Catholic at the Tokyo Detention House on Dec. 24, 1984. “Since I have been given the Christian name Paul, I am keenly feeling that I should be aware of the greatness of Paul.” (June 1985)

Idaho executes Paul Ezra Rhoades

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Paul Rhoades
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho has executed a convicted murderer for his role in the 1987 slayings of two women — the state's first capital punishment in 17 years.

Paul Ezra Rhoades was declared dead at 9:15 a.m. Friday. He died by lethal injection at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Boise.

Rhoades was convicted in the kidnapping and murders of 34-year-old Susan Michelbacher and 21-year-old Stacy Dawn Baldwin.

The execution of the 54-year-old Idaho Falls native was the first in Idaho since 1994.

Rhoades acknowledged killing the women but has appealed his case and Idaho's execution protocol. His appeals were denied at the state and federal level, including an appeal Thursday with the U.S. Supreme Court.

Rhoades was the first person executed in Idaho since 1994 and the only person to be involuntarily put to death in the state since 1957.

Rhoades becomes the 43rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1277th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. One more execution is scheduled in the USA this year, in Oregon, on Dec. 6. If carreid out as expected, there would be 44 executions in the country this year, continuing a downward trend; there were 46 executions in the USA last year and 52 in 2009.

Source: AP, November 18, 2011
Location: Boise, ID, USA
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