Daniel Juan Revilla, 34 anni, � stato messo a morte.

WASHINGTON - Nel carcere di McAlester in Oklahoma, un uomo, condannato alla pena capitale per avere battuto a morte il figlioletto di 13 mesi della sua ragazza, ha ricevuto giovedi' sera l'iniezione letale.

Daniel Juan Revilla, 34 anni, e' stato la prima persona la cui condanna capitale e' stata eseguita in Oklahoma quest'anno. Prima di essere messo a morte, l'uomo non ha fatto nessuna dichiarazione.

L'omicidio risale a 16 anni or sono, quando Revilla aveva 18 anni, e avvenne nella cittadina di Altus, nel sud-ovest dell'Oklahoma. Il bambino, Mark Gomez, mori' dopo essere stato brutalmente picchiato e dopo avere subito violenze e torture.

Revilla e' stato la 56.a persona la cui condanna a morte e' stata eseguita in Oklahoma, da quando, nel 1990, le esecuzioni sono riprese nello Stato.

Oklahoma executes baby killer

In McAlester, a man who brutally beat his girlfriend's baby boy to death 16 years ago died for the crime Thursday.

 Daniel Juan Revilla was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, minutes after executioners delivered a mix of drugs to stop his breathing and then his heart.

 Mark Gomez of Altus was just 13 months old when he was killed in a beating so brutal it severed his liver.

 Revilla, 34, denied intentionally harming Mark. He told authorities he panicked when he found the boy wasn't breathing and struck and accidentally scalded the child while trying to revive him.

 The baby was bruised, burned and had cuts on his thighs and peeling skin on his chest and groin when he died. An autopsy showed swelling and bleeding of the brain, along with a severed liver.

 The boy's father and 4 other family members came to the prison to see Revilla die.

 The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Revilla's last-ditch plea for a stay Thursday afternoon.

 Revilla spent his final hours visiting with his brother and godmother.

 At the time of the murder, Revilla was 18 and working on a farm. The boy's mother wasn't at home when Revilla said he found the child had stopped breathing.

 Revilla told authorities he was trying to revive the baby when he struck him in the abdomen and then accidentally scalded him with hot water. He said he rushed from the bathroom and struck the boy's head on the door frame. He said he then tripped and fell on top of the boy.

 Mark's mother, Michelle McElmurry, and 2 other witnesses testified that Revilla hated the boy because he was not his child.

 She told of previous abuse, saying Revilla had shut the baby in a kitchen drawer, folded him in a hide-a-bed, dunked him in cold water and hung him by his ankles with duct tape.

 Mark's father, Juan Gomez, said his son was a playful blue-eyed baby. The murder took place 2 days before he was to take custody of him, he said.

 "I've got pictures of him from when we were together," he said. "I look back at those times and I sob. It was a short time, but it was still a good time."

 Gomez said he wanted to witness the execution because he thought it might bring him peace.

 Revilla becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Oklahoma and the 56th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1990. Only Texas (291), Virginia (87), and Missouri (59) have executed more inmates since America re-legalized the death penalty on July 2, 1976.

 Revilla becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 823rd overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977.