WASHINGTON, 26 FEB - Un uomo che, dopo essere evaso dal carcere dov'era detenuto, violento' e uccise una donna di 68 anni e' stato messo a morte mercoledi' in Florida:    Amos King ha sempre sostenuto, fino al momento di ricevere l'iniezione letale, che un test del Dna lo avrebbe scagionato dall'accusa dei delitti compiuti 26 anni or sono.

   In dicembre, il governatore della Florida Jeb Bush, fratello del presidente degli Stati Uniti, aveva sospeso l'esecuzione di King appena 90 minuti prima che avvenisse, per consentire nuovi test, che non hanno pero' dato risultati probanti.

   King, che aveva anche incendiato la casa della donna, dopo averla uccisa, venne catturato mentre cercava di rientrare alla prigione a bassa sorveglianza da dove s'era allontanato, con i vestiti sporchi di sangue. 

FLORIDA - King executed for '77 murder

Amos King, maintaining his innocence to the end, was executed Wednesday by lethal injection for the rape and murder of a Tarpon Springs woman almost 26 years ago.

King, 48, was condemned for the 1977 killing of Natalie Brady, 68, who lived near a Tarpon Springs corrections center, where King was a work- release inmate. He then set fire to her home.

 King was pronounced dead at 6:43 p.m., the governor's office said.

 King was caught trying to get back into the prison at about the same time firefighters and police arrived at Brady's home. He fought with a counselor, James McDonough, who was stabbed 15 times with a knife that witnesses said apparently came from Brady's kitchen.

 "I would like the governor and the family to know I am an innocent man and the state had evidence to that effect," King said in his final statement Wednesday. "I'm sorry for the victim's family, for all the things we have gone through.:

 2 of Brady's nieces were crying in the front row as King thanked his attorney, Peter Cannon. His execution was scheduled for 6 p.m., but delayed by last minute appeals, said Bush spokeswoman Liz Hirst. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected King's last appeal there 30 minutes after his execution was scheduled.

 A flurry of appeals was also filed in the Florida Supreme Court, with the last motion arriving after 6 p.m. The state high court, which had rejected an appeal from King late Monday, didn't rule on the new appeals before his execution.

 King also lost recent appeals in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta and in the federal court in Tampa.

 King contended in a Tuesday interview that he was the victim of racism, circumstances, perjured testimony, and ignored and lost evidence. He maintained his innocence in Brady's murder, saying, "I am not confessing to anything I did not do."

 King had survived execution attempts by 3 governors.

 Gov. Bob Graham signed King's 1st warrant in 1981, followed by Gov. Bob Martinez in 1988. King also survived 4 execution dates last year on a warrant signed by Bush.

 King becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Florida, and the 55th overall since Florida resumed capital punishment in 1979. Only Texas (298), Virginia (87), Missouri (60), and Oklahoma (57) have executed more people than Florida in the modern era, since America re-legalized the death penalty on July 2, 1976.

 King becomes the 14th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 834th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977.