A death row inmate is due to be executed in Oklahoma on Thursday for the murder of two people more than 20 years ago.
Michael Dewayne Smith, 41, was convicted of fatally shooting Janet Moore, 41, and Sharath Pulluru, 22, in separate incidents in February 2002 when he was 19, a crime he denies. He will become the fourth prisoner in the US this year to be executed - in this case by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester - and the first in the state since capital punishment resumed in 2021.
During a 15-minute video taken from inside death row last month he appeared with hands shackled and wearing a red prison jumpsuit. Smith was remorseful for the deaths and offered his "deepest apologies and deepest sorrows to the families” of the victims. But he denied being responsible for them.
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A visibly upset Smith claimed: "I didn’t commit these crimes. I didn’t kill these people. He then added: “I was high on drugs. I don’t even remember getting arrested.”
On March 6, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 4-1 to deny Smith clemency, meaning that his sentence cannot instead be commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals also denied Smith’s request on Wednesday for an emergency stay of execution - for the fourth time.
"I don't want to die, man," he told The Oklahoman in a phone interview on Monday, adding: "Who can ever be prepared to die, man? I sure don't want to die for something I didn't do."
Members of Janet's family were at the hearing and requested that the board deny clemency. They also read a statement on behalf of Sharath's family asking the same request. Attorney General Gentner Drummond also requested the board deny Smith clemency because his claims of innocence have been repeatedly denied in court.
Mr Drummond said in a statement: “Michael Smith’s outrageous claims of innocence have been repeatedly rejected in court. He is a ruthless killer who has confessed to his crimes on multiple occasions. There is no doubt in my mind that his request for clemency should be denied.”
Smith claimed he was framed by the same people who framed fellow Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip, who was jailed for the murder-for-hire of his boss and hotel owner Barry Van Treese in 1997. He said: "I have the same exact issues as Mr. Glossip. But due to the fact that I'm affiliated (with a gang) and I'm Black ... my case hasn't been given the same look as Mr. Glossip's has."
However, prosecutors described Smith as a ruthless gang member who killed both victims in misguided acts of revenge and confessed his involvement in the killings to police, his roommate and a neighbour. Janet was shot in her apartment, they argued, because he was looking for her son who he believed had snitched on him to the police over his whereabouts.
Later on the same day, prosecutors said Smith then shot Sharath - who was working as a store clerk at A&Z Food Mart - nine times because he believed she had disrespected his gang during an interview with a newspaper reporter. She was then doused in lighter fluid and set on fire.
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However, Sharath wasn't the intended target and was filling in for a friend at the sore. Concerning Janet's death at the time, Smith told police: "It's her fault she died. She panicked and she got shot. ... She like, 'Help! Help!' I'm like, I had to. I had no choice."
Back then he was a member of a street gang in Oklahoma City known as the Oak Grove Posse and was hiding from police, who had issued a warrant for his arrest on a murder case the previous year. Smith was convicted at a separate trial of second-degree murder for shooting dead a man outside an Oklahoma City club on November 24, 2001, after admitting that he handed the gun to shooter David Burns, who was sentenced to life in prison.
Mark Henricksen, Smith’s attorney, argued that he is intellectually disabled and that his condition was worsened by years of hardcore drug use. He said that his life should be spared and be allowed to spend the rest of his days behind bars. Mr Henricksen also claimed Smith was in a PCP-induced haze when he confessed to police and that key elements of his confession aren’t supported by facts.
Prosecutors rejected any claims of intellectual disability and said Smith remains a danger to society. They also noted that he was caught with weapons on death row in 2019 and that he is still involved with gang members who continue to communicate with him. “He has expressed a desire to kill more,” said Assistant Attorney General Aspen Layman.
Smith is scheduled to be executed at 10am, according to Kosu. The last execution in the state was Phillip Hancock by lethal injection in November 2023, was convicted of the murder of two men in 2001.