TEXAS, 800esima ESECUZIONE DOPO RIPRESA

WASHINGTON, 25 SET - Un uomo che accoltello' a morte due bambine che s'erano rifiutate di abbassare il volume della musica che stavano ascoltando e' stato messo a morte nel carcere di Huntsville, in Texas.

   Solo 19 mesi dopo il delitto, Rex Mays confesso' di avere ucciso la figlia di sette anni dei suoi vicini e una sua amichetta di 10 anni. Ora, e' diventato l'800.a persona messa a morte negli Stati Uniti dopo la reintroduzione della pena capitale, nel 1976, quando una moratoria nazionale venne sospesa dalla Corte Suprema.

   Mays, 42 anni ora, disse di avere usato la tecnica acquisita quando era un marine: una bambina fu accoltellata 23 volte, l'altra almeno 18.

   L'uomo, che guadagnava qualche soldo facendo il clown, compi' il duplice omicidio il giorno in cui venne licenziato da un negozio dove lavorava, il 20 luglio 1992. Prima dell'esecuzione, ha detto qualche parola di tono religioso, ma non ha espresso rammarico ne' ha chiesto scusa ai genitori delle vittime, che erano presenti.

   Mays ha ricevuto un'iniezione letale: la sua e' stata la 27.a condanna a morte eseguita quest'anno nel Texas e la 283.a nello Stato dalla ripresa delle esecuzioni nel 1982.   

25-SET-02

Texas man executed for murders of two young girls

HUNTSVILLE, Texas, Sept 24 - A sometime clown who   stabbed two young Texas girls to death after he was fired from his job was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday.

The execution of Rex Mays was the 800th in the U.S. since the Supreme Court lifted a national death penalty ban in 1976.

Mays was the 27th person executed this year in Texas, the nation's death penalty leader, and the 283rd since it resumed capital punishment in 1982.

Mays, 42, was condemned for stabbing to death 7-year-old Kynara Carreiro and a 10-year-old friend, Kristin Wiley, in Wiley's Houston home on July 20, 1992.

Testimony showed that Mays, who had just lost his job at a warehouse, became enraged after the girls refused to turn down loud music that had annoyed him. He stabbed each of the girls more than a dozen times in the face and neck with a knife, according to testimony.

Mays, who performed occasionally as "Uh-Oh the Clown," went to his nearby home, changed clothes and then told investigators that he had seen two men climbing a fence at the Wiley house.

Nineteen months later, detectives finally zeroed in on him and Mays gave a full confession.

While strapped to the gurney in the death chamber, Mays gave a final statement that touched on his religious beliefs and thanked his supporters.

He did not apologize to the relatives of the victims, who were present.

"Warden, just give me parole and let me go home to be with the lord," Mays said just before the lethal drugs were injected into his veins.

Mays' execution is the first of two scheduled this week in Texas. On Wednesday, Calvin King, 48, is set to die for fatally stabbing a man to death during a 1994 drug deal.

For his final meal, Mays requested scrambled eggs with shredded cheese, cream gravy, hash browns, pan sausage, orange juice and milk.