TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — The United States has carried out its second federal execution this week, killing by lethal injection a Kansas man whose lawyers contended he had dementia and was unfit to be executed.
Wesley Ira Purkey was put to death Thursday at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. Purkey was convicted of kidnapping and killing a 16-year-old girl in Kansas City, Missouri, before dismembering, burning and dumping her body in a septic pond.
The Supreme Court cleared the way for Purkey's execution to take place just hours before, ruling in a 5-4 decision. Another man, Daniel Lewis Lee, was put to death Tuesday, ending a 17-year hiatus on federal executions.
