Alabama executes Michael Jeffrey Land

Michael Jeffrey Land was put to death tonight for the 1992 murder of a 30-year-old mother who was kidnapped from her home and later found shot in the head on Ruffner Mountain.

Share Land, 41, was pronounced dead at 6:23 p.m. at Holman Prison in Atmore after spending 17 years on Alabama's Death Row for the slaying of Candace Brown.

Gov. Bob Riley this week turned down Land's request for clemency. Efforts by Land's attorneys to get the Alabama Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution failed.

When Warden Tony Patterson asked Land if he had any final statements, Land replied "No. Thank you though."

Holman Correctional Facility Chaplain Chris Summers got on one knee, held Land's left hand and prayed with him until Land fell into unconciousness.

Land becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Alabama and the 47th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983.

Land becomes the 35th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1223rd overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Sources: Birmingham News & Rick Halperin, August 12, 2010

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