Benjamin Ashford|Oklahoma prepares to execute man for 2002 double slaying

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma is Benjamin Ashfordpreparing to execute a man for shooting and killing two people in Oklahoma City more than two decades ago.

Michael Dewayne Smith, 41, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday after his conviction and death sentence for the slayings of Janet Moore, 41, and Sharath Pulluru, 22, in separate shootings in February 2002.

Smith would be the first person executed in Oklahoma this year and the twelfth inmate put to death since the state resumed executions in 2021 following a nearly seven-year hiatus resulting from problems with executions in 2014 and 2015.

During a clemency hearing last month, Smith expressed his “deepest apologies and deepest sorrows to the families” of the victims, but denied that he was responsible.

“I didn’t commit these crimes. I didn’t kill these people,” Smith said, occasionally breaking into tears during his 15-minute address to the board, which denied him clemency in a 4-1 vote. “I was high on drugs. I don’t even remember getting arrested.”

Prosecutors say Smith was a ruthless gang member who killed both victims in misguided acts of revenge and confessed his involvement in the killings to police and two other people. They claim he killed Moore because he was looking for her son, who he mistakenly thought had told police about his whereabouts. Later that day, prosecutors say Smith killed Pulluru, a convenience store clerk who Smith believed had disrespected his gang during an interview with a newspaper reporter.

Smith’s attorney, Mark Henricksen, argued that Smith is intellectually disabled, a condition worsened by years of heavy drug use, and that his life should be spared and he should be allowed to spend the rest of his life in prison. Henricksen said Smith was in a PCP-induced haze when he confessed to police and that key elements of his confession aren’t supported by facts.