Oklahoma executes Ronald Clinton Lott

Ronald Clinton Lott

An Oklahoma man convicted of raping and then brutally murdering two elderly women in the 1980s was executed tonight.

Ronald Clinton Lott, 53, received a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, making him the state's fifth death row inmate to be executed this year.

He was pronounced dead at 6:06 p.m.

Lott was convicted in Oklahoma County of two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of 83-year-old Anna Laura Fowler in September 1986 and 93-year-old Zelma Cutler in January 1987. He was also convicted of raping the women.

However, another man originally sat on death row for the crimes. In 1987, Robert Lee Miller Jr. confessed to and was convicted of the slayings and spent 11 years in prison before DNA evidence finally linked Lott to the heinous crimes.

Miller was released in 1998 after seven years on death row. Lott had been on death row since 2001.

According to Oklahoma criminal appeals court records, evidence presented at trial suggested Lott attacked the women and sat on their chests, breaking their ribs. Both had numerous bruises and were asphyxiated.

In January, the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver rejected Lott's appeal. He claimed he received ineffective counsel during the sentencing phase of the trial. He also argued there was prosecutorial misconduct and insufficient evidence in his case.

In November, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 4-1 to deny commuting Lott's death sentence to life in prison.

At the clemency hearing, Lott apologized to the victims' families and asked for their forgiveness.

"I'm so sorry for what I've done. And I'd ask them to forgive me," Lott told board members, victims' family members and others during a teleconference from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester.

"I caused them so much hurt and pain."

Lott initially told members of the Pardon and Parole Board that he wanted to waive his clemency hearing, but made a statement after his attorney pleaded with him to do so. He refused to ask the board to spare his life, though, despite his attorney's pleas.

Jim Fowler, the son of Anna Fowler, urged the board to spare Lott's life "and let him rot in that damn cell."

Oklahoma is scheduled to execute another inmate before the end of the year. Johnny Dale Black, 48, is scheduled to be executed Dec. 17 for the 1998 stabbing death of a Ringling horse trainer.

Lott becomes the 5th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Oklahoma and the 107th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1990. Only Texas (508) and Virginia (110) have executed more inmates since the death penalty was re-legalized in the USA on July 2, 1976.

Lott becomes the 37th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1357th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Sources: Reuters, Associated Press, Rick Halperin, December 10, 2013

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