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Okla. Department Of Corrections / AP
Michael Hooper, shown in a photo provided by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, was executed on Tuesday.
OKLAHOMA CITY -- A man convicted of killing his former girlfriend and her two young children in 1993 and burying them in a shallow grave was executed Tuesday in Oklahoma after an unsuccessful last-ditch challenge to the state's three-drug execution protocol.
Michael Hooper, 39, was convicted of driving his ex-girlfriend Cynthia Jarman and her children, Timothy, 3, and Tonya, 5, to a field where he shot each of them twice in the head and then buried them in December 1993.
Their bodies were found three days later. Police reports showed that Hooper and Jarman previously had been in a "physically violent relationship," the state attorney general's office said.
Hooper, who was the fourth person executed in Oklahoma this year and the 27th in the United States, was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m. local time (9:14 p.m. ET) at the state prison in McAlester, a prison spokesman said.
Death sentence re-imposed in 2004
Hooper was first sentenced to death in 1995, but a federal appeals court overturned the sentence seven years later, ruling that his counsel had been ineffective. He waived his right to be sentenced by a jury at a new hearing. A judge re-imposed the death sentence in 2004.
More on this story from NBC News' Tulsa affiliate KJRH
Hooper had waived his right to appear before the state pardons and parole board, but last week attempted to block his execution by challenging the three-drug protocol used to execute condemned killers in Oklahoma.
He had contended that the protocol used had the potential to cause great pain and was unconstitutional. A federal judge in Oklahoma City and a federal appeals court rejected his challenge.
Earlier this year, Oklahoma was down to one dose of pentobarbital, one of three drugs the state uses to execute condemned inmates. It obtained 20 more doses since then, state prison spokesman Jerry Massie said.
Complete US coverage on NBCNews.com
'Long, arduous journey for all of the families'
The family members of Hooper's three victims released a statement that extended their condolences to Hooper's family.
"This has been a long, arduous journey for all of the families," the statement said. "Tonya, Timmy and Cindy will always be in our hearts and our minds. They will forever be missed and loved deeply."
Hooper requested a variety of fruit along with cranberry juice and coffee for his last meal, Massie said.
"I just want to thank God for such an excellent sendoff," Hooper said before the execution. "Also, my family, for standing by me throughout all this. I appreciate their being there for me through the hardships."
Hooper also asked for forgiveness "for all those that need it -- you know who you are."
"I ask that my spirit be released directly into the hands of Jesus and I'm ready to go. I love you all," he said.
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Bye.
... Next!
They should have beat him bloody first... Let him feel some pain before putting him to sleep.
He should of been gone in 1994 at the very latest. Executions should be as painful as possible and there should be no concern for the criminal.
OK to OK, Git er Done.
Nothing like a little "feel-good" news...
"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." - Eight amendment to the United States Constitution, 1791
The term "cruel and unusual" is subjective, wee-bit.
Good riddance , one less taxpayer funded scumbag to feed.
"nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
Were the mother and two kids who were butchered treated humanly?? No logic should be your call sign.
why do they always find jesus on death row? i don't think he's going to see jesus where he's going
19 years really! The justice system at work again. This person should have been executed 18 years ago. In order to have any deterrent effect justice must be swift!
For some perspective if your child were born the day these crimes took place they would be out of high school working or starting their sophomore year of college.
We must insist that our court systems find a way to expedite all violent crime.
It's a shame you get faster justice for a traffic violation than the violation of human life!
LOL, he's not going to see anyone period. Now that he has been released of any punishment at all and has been set free and his criminal record expunged meaning he is now considered a model citizen by law, that's a travesty. He should have been stuck in a 2x4 prison cell to rot for the rest of his natural life. The only thing the death penalty serves is releasing these monsters of their responsibility for the crime they have committed. He felt no pain in his death unlike his victims he simply feel asleep how is that justice? Leaving him to rot in prison for life with no parole being able to see the light of day from his cell and knowing he'll never feel the sun on his face again would have been better. He didn't "go" anywhere except out of prison.
If Jesus actually exists and forgives this guy then Christianity is pure bull@!$%#.
Alex, isn't that the job of Jesus?
Good, but why did it take 19 years, that is ridiculous, if he was guilty without any doubt he should have been executed within two weeks after sentencing. Our court system sucks, it is filled with to many liberals. He is guarranted a speedy trial and execution under th constitution. This needs to happen a lot more and much sooner. I accept that some are not guilty but the criteria should be without any doubt and then execution.
Love how you cons blame everything on liberals as if cons have nothing to do with our justice system, if that is true maybe the cons should get off their a$$e$ and do something other than blame the other side and rob the middle class!
Amy your a tard! Shut Up!
This loser stole the futures of 3 people and he's worried he might get an "owie" from his injections? I hope it hurt him a lot. His actions destroyed 3 people, traumatized 2 families (one being his own) and bought himself a life in a cage. So now he's been euthanized like any other rabid animal. He made the choices in this tragedy and has paid for it. GOOD!
Good bye, good riddance, and sad that the people of that state had to foot the bill for this waste of carbon for almost 20 years.
Say hi to Jesus for us, pal.
Must be some way to "FAST-TRACK" these Death Row Immates to the electric chair, especially if they're caught with incriminating evidence or DNA evidence. Too many of these cases we often hear about are living out another 20 years of their lives at Taxpayer expense. What could possibly take so frikkin' long to flip a switch, shoot a needle into them or put a blindfold on them, then shoot 'em? 20 years? I'm certain that all part of the original Prosecutoral team or Detectives who worked on the case are most likely retired or changed careers by then, so why the looo-o-ooong wait?
Kinda makes you think that of all the Top Headlines Kellers we've heard about recently...we won't be hearing about their execution for at least another 20 years!
oops... Killers
PEACE OUT DOUCHE BAG!!!!!
Enjoy your NEW cellmate! He has horns and guess where they're going first?
I wish MSNBC actually said more about the case. Like, what was his original defense? That he didn't do it? That God told him to or something?
Only because I'd like to gauge just how big of a douche this guy was before I start judging his family for standing by him. I could never imagine standing behind even my own father or brother if they so callously killed a woman and her kids, especially the way this guy did. Shame on that family! They didn't deserve the condolences of the victims' family if they were willing to stand by that monster!
And so classy not to show any remorse for his victims in your last statement. "You know who you are"? PLEASE!! What kind of half-a$$ed apology is that? This a-hole probably waived his right to a pardons board or to have a jury re-sentence him because he wanted as few people judging him and giving him the stink-eye as possible. Instead he tried to use fear of a painful death as an excuse to get out of it.
So let me get this straight, you don't want to apologize to the family as your last action, you don't want to allow people to judge your actions and you don't want to feel any pain as you die?? Accepting Jesus into your heart means showing real remorse and taking your medicine when it comes to popular opinion about you and your actions! That clear unwillingness to repent will get you nowhere with Jesus.
POSs like this make me hope to God that hell really does exist!
WeBitofknowledge: Did you miss all the ways we punished criminals from that time until now? Amendments are applied arbitrarily and always have been. It is called interpretation. How about a new method called Splatter; this is where we drop them from a very high place onto some coral rock. Preferably within a day of conviction.
See ya!
Good riddance.
I hope this brings closure to the family of those who died.
"protocol used had the potential to cause great pain"
What kind of pain did his victims feel? I would say "see ya" but I hope I'm not going to the same place he is.
Then you simply say, 'See ya, wouldn't want to be ya!'
Unlikely, unless you happen to have reserved a plot in the same cemetery.
That is one of the great things about God, if you accept Jesus and have faith there is no sin you cannot be forgiven even murder except one. If anyone is sincere about their asking for forgiveness then Jesus awaits your arrival. Human beings are the ones who judge a person for the rest of their lives, not God. Any kind of murder other than an accident and child abuse (sexual, physical,mental) and abortion are all crimes that should result in the death penalty. I say sentence them allow a couple of weeks to reflect and ask God for forgiveness then execute them and let God take over. All other crimes should be served in prison and after they have done their time, paid any restitution and I mean with no good behaviour time off crap (that way there is no such thing as probation) then they should have their records sealed except for law enforcement and all their rights restored as a American. Jesus when asked how many times should I forgive he said twenty times seven, if you cannot forgive then you will not be forgiven. BUT if these people commit a second offense their sentence should be doubled and a third would result in life without parole. Just my thoughts on the subject.
Thanks for the sermon Jerry, but I'll stick with the humanity side of the house and say unequivocally that he deserved to die shortly after being found guilty. While I agree there is some measure of forgiveness possible for some crimes, short of domestic abuse or other self-defense type responses, murderers deserve a harsh swift punishment for their heinous crimes. If you had to pay all of the bill to house, educate, rehabilitate and cater to these murderers, you may actually reconsider the "Lock em up forever" approach.
It is too easy for them to "Find Jesus" after they commit such crimes and fool those who are weak willed and minded into believing that they are somehow more pious now than before their crimes. Not me, they deserve to suffer for their crimes just as their victims have. The death penalty cannot be a real deterrent when criminals know that so many appeals are available, too many states and citizens have become soft on brutal crimes and in most cases it takes 20 years on average for that convict to actually be executed.
"but I hope I'm not going to the same place he is."
Is there something you need to get off your chest?
"That is one of the great things about God, if you accept Jesus and have faith there is no sin you cannot be forgiven even murder"
So basically your religion is a pass to commit crimes, as you get a "Get out of Hell" card? Brilliant. No wonder criminals are all so religious.
the punisher,
You dont have a free pass, you must sincerly be sorry and repent. Everyone can say sorry, only God knows if they mean it.
This is not to say that we should forgive everyone. I truly believe that courts are here to make the innocent public safer, even if they dont always do this. He needed to be put down to save other lives and punish him for his crime.
Oh, and while I dont agree with you guys. Saying how about the pain of the mom and 2 kids, he shot them in the head. They probably had as much pain as he did in his injection. Not counting the emotional pain of watching a loved one be killed of course.
It's stupid to have to wait this long to see justice. It's supposed to be a deterrent for potential would be offenders and a punishment for the murderer. It's an insult to the victims.
Mic you got that right..... Capital Punishment is worthless unless done in a timely manner.....
How about Sunday hangings, within the first month, followed by a picnic?
I shall bring the lemonade.
burn in hell dirt bag
OK Oklahoma.....to bad you had to pay for him for 19yrs...
Wow what a great use of effort to try and save a guy who, after witnessing their mother murdered (I'm sure he killed her first unless he wanted her to watch him kill her kids) makes them lay down and then shoots a 3 and 5 year old baby in the head. Our world needs to make sure that there is ZERO chance that messed up DNA like this survives. Justice was late but justice was clearly searved.
Looks like he took care of that himself.
He didn't want to be in great pain? What did he leave in his wake? He should have been stretched until he came apart.. in 1993.
why does it take so long and so much money to the tax-payers? He killed 3 people coldheartedly he should have been dead the day it was found that he murdered someone.I hate to say this,but if Iwere ajudge or law maker murderers,child rapist and child molester would be put to death as soon as they are found guilty,they don't deserve to mingle with law abiding citizens . Most of these people cannot be cured or rehab.
Finally someone I agree with 100%. To all you leftist liberals, I wonder how you would feel if this had been your grandchildren.
Is that the Christian in you talking?
The answer, stupid, is that they would feel bad, but would not necessarily take a life over it. Even the life of the person who did it.
Funny how they all seem to find ... god... in the end isn't it? such a waste all the way around... and sad
I think he 'found someone'. But I do not believe it was God who was talking to him. The 'person' he was talking to was just saying 'see you in a few'.
"He had contended that the protocol used had the potential to cause great pain and was unconstitutional."
Unlike having a young mother, a five year old, and three year old being shot in the head two times each. Lethal injection was easy and they waited too long in my opinion. Should have had him dig his own shallow grave in '93, lay down, and take six to the head to compensate for his victims. As a taxpayer, I would gladly have donated the ammo.
I like the way you think, Ranger!
When you have evil in a bottle how could you ever think you could contain it forever? the only option is to destroy it otherwise it will get out.
They should have fed him to the hogs in 1995 and saved the tax payers a lot of waisted money.
This is where our tax money goes America. To let these scumbags sit in jail, debt and tax free, for 20 years after killing a mother and her 2 children. Who the @!$%# runs this system???
This is why I believe in the OLD WEST because if you do something like this it is all over the very next week when the judge comes into town and this person would be hung in the middle of town for all to see and that would be it not much money spent keeping alive.
If someone is thinking about something like this they would think twice because they would see what the end result would be and wouldn't do it.
To think that it took so many years to fry this guy it makes me want to vomit because the people that he killed never had a chance at life.
These are the kind of things that should never ever happen because he killed innocent people and the bleeding hearts out there wanted this animal to live.
Narcissism, pure narcissism. Glad he is gone.
The lawyers made big money over this one. how asinine. This dirtbag lives for nineteen plus years in a cozy cell, fed watered and cared for . Now he thinks he is going to the arms of Jesus. The whole mess is disgusting. ashlie, the lawyers run this ripoff system.
good. he was a piece of garbage. you kill 2 young children and dare challenge whether the 'three drug cocktail' is humane? GO F yourself.
The thing that continues to frost my butt is when these killers start yellng that the way they will be executed is 'too painful' so shouldn't be used! I think ALL killers should be killed the same way they executed their victims! It's only fair! You shoot a mom and her little ones in the head, TWICE, then bury them in a field and our country gives HIM the right to stomp and yell that the way they are going to send him to halifax is too painful? It's just a way prisoners/criminals have to manipulate the system and they end up with more rights and the poor victims have none! Something wrong with that picture! Bring back the firing squad and hanging! THEN maybe it might get some criminals attention!
He's been released from any further punishment.
You are correct, he has satisfied his legal obligations to society as demanded by a court of competent jurisdiction. If people must vilify him, do so to who he was, not who he is.
He shoots a woman and her two young children twice in the head and we are supposed to worry about how painful it was for him? So many innocent children are being killed because of volatal relationships between parents or parent and boyfriend/girlfriend.
Every last jolt of pain is not not enough to make up for the suffering these humanoids cause, for the pain they create that will last for years after their worthless corpses have decayed away.
Execution is too kind for these kinds of creatures.
Impalement or Crucifixtion is too kind.
They should suffer, and be unable to cry out.
They should know agony like a lover's touch and be denied the release of death until their neurons are so fried they'd never know the difference.
While I am against the death penalty due personal reasons, and also against it due to the possibility of irreversible errors, this was NOT "murder", Fanga. Aggravated murder, which "aggravated" is the needed component for a death sentence, is not what OK did...there was no "aggravated" component in the decision. I truly wish anti-death penalty advocates would stop using that as an excuse to support their argument. As I said, I am against it, but will support the decision of the majority until it can be changed. That being said, even staunch supporters of the death penalty detest how I would enact alternative punishment.
Keastral -
I , too, am tired of the same old "illegal murder" by the state whine. By definition, murder is the illegal taking of a life. Whether folks like it or not, it is legal.
Agreed, thank you. And if one does not like the death penalty, work to change it. There are far better (cheaper) and worse things we can impose.