Oklahoma executed Michel DeWanye Smith by lethal injection.
Smith was sentenced to death after his double homicide conviction in the early 2000s. Before his execution on April 4, the 41-year-old was given the opportunity to say some final words.
“Nah, I’m good,” Smith said.
Smith was found guilty of killing Janet Miller-Moore, 41, and Sharath Pulluru, 24, in February 2002 while on the run for a separate murder, for which he was separately convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. His legal team has repeatedly appealed his case, at times claiming his challenging childhood and early drug use left him developmentally challenged, reports OKC Fox.
Smith was reportedly a member of the Oak Grove Posse Kerr Village Crips and was known as “Hoover Killer.”
According to Justia, Smith kicked in the door of Miller-Moore’s apartment while looking for her son who he believed was a police informant. After shooting her in her bedroom, he went to the A-Z Mart convenience store 15 miles away.
Pulluru, the store’s clerk, was filling in for the store’s owner. Smith shot Pulluru and then used lighter fluid to set his body, the cash register and a backroom on fire to destroy evidence. Smith reportedly confessed to killing Miller-Moore to his roommate the next day.
Smith maintained his innocence and denied his role in the shootings although he expressed sorrow for the victims’ families.
"I didn’t commit these crimes. I didn’t kill these people," Smith told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board at a clemency hearing in March, per Fox News "I was high on drugs. I don't even remember getting arrested."
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond had asked the board to reject Smith’s request for clemency.
“Michael Smith’s outrageous claims of innocence have been repeatedly rejected in court,” Drummond said in a statement in February. “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.”
The state also showed the board clips from Smith’s recorded confession where he described killing Moore and Pulluru in great detail.
The execution began at 10:09 a.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and lasted roughly 10 minutes. Smith did not request a last meal and a spiritual advisor was with him during the lethal injection.
“Today's event and the circumstances that led to it have affected many people — especially the family and friends of victims Janet Moore and Sharath Pulluru," said Steve Harpe, the director of prisons in Oklahoma, told CBS News. "As an agency, we carried out the court's orders according to our high standards of professionalism and respect for those in our custody, ensuring dignity for everyone involved in the process."
This was the first execution Oklahoma has carried out in 2024.
In a statement to OKC Fox, Miller-Moore’s family thanked the attorney general and his staff for “continued support to seek justice” on her behalf.
“Honor and glory to the Most High as this is the day the Lord has made,” the family said. “Today and always, we honor the mother, the sister, the aunt, the cousin, and the angel on Earth and in heaven. The memory of her life, her work, and her deeds will continue to live on. Justice has been served.”
