Oklahoma Executes Wendell Grissom for 2005 Murder

McALESTER, Okla. Wendell Grissom was executed by the state of Oklahoma on Thursday for the 2005 murder of a woman during a home invasion. Grissom received a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m.

Grissom was convicted of fatally shooting Betty Smither during a robbery at her home in Duncan, Oklahoma. He had been on death row for nearly two decades. His appeals were exhausted after the Supreme Court declined to hear his case.

The execution proceeded without incident. Witnesses included family members of the victim and Grissom's attorney. This execution is part of Oklahoma's continued use of the death penalty after a pause for review of its protocols. The state has carried out several executions in recent months.