- October 3 

Convicted Killer Executed in Missouri

By JIM SUHR, 

POTOSI, Mo. - A man convicted of beating a grandmother to death with a hammer before stealing her money to buy crack cocaine was executed early Wednesday.

Michael Roberts, 27, died at 12:05 a.m. at the Potosi Correctional Center, four minutes after the first of three lethal doses was administered.

 The execution came a day after he told The Associated Press he loathed any prospect of spending life behind bars, saying ``I want to be executed. I'm ready to go.''

 His fate was sealed late Tuesday when the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) and Gov. Bob Holden refused to halt the execution, Missouri's sixth this year.

 In interviews this week, Roberts refused to discuss the 1994 killing of Mary Taylor, aside from calling it a ``spontaneous'' byproduct of a two-week bender on everything from cocaine to PCP and marijuana.

 According to his confession and court records, Roberts went to Taylor's home the night of Feb. 16, 1994, after he and friends ran out of drugs and money.

 When Taylor asked Roberts to leave so she could sleep, Roberts hit her 19 times with a hammer, kicked her in the head and side, tightened a telephone cord around her neck, stabbed her with steak and butcher knives and immersed her face in a pot of water.

Roberts stole more than $200 he and his friends spent on more crack cocaine. He returned to Taylor's house to steal more valuables and her car, then later to report finding the body.

 At trial, Roberts' lawyers asked for his life to be spared, citing his troubled, poor upbringing they said included mental, physical and sexual abuse by his father and years of untreated mental illness.

 Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977, Missouri has executed the third-most inmates at 52, trailing only Texas with 252 and Virginia with 82.