WASHINGTON, 09 LUG - Un evaso che 15 anni or sono uccise l'uomo con cui condivideva un appartamento e' stato messo a morte, martedi' sera, nel carcere di McAlester, in Oklahoma: Robert Don Duckett, 39 anni, ha ricevuto l'iniezione letale, poco dopo avere chiesto perdono alla propria famiglia e ai familiari della sua vittima.

Nell'ottobre del 1987, Duckett fuggi' da un carcere, dove stava scontando una pena per rapina e aggressione, e condivise per un anno a Oklahoma City un appartamento con un uomo di 58 anni, John Howard.

Duckett lo uccise, quando Howard gli disse di andarsene.

Poi, fuggi in Arizona, dove venne arrestato.

Duckett e' stata la 11.a persona messa a morte quest'anno in Oklahoma e la 65.a da quando le esecuzioni sono riprese nel 1990.

Oklahoma City killer put to death

In McAlester, a man who beat an Oklahoma City resident to death with an ashtray stand and fireplace poker died for the crime Tuesday in Oklahoma's death chamber.

Robert Don Duckett, 39, received a heart-stopping injection and was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m.

He had not tried to stay his execution at the last minute, having already exhausted his appeals.

Duckett was a 24-year-old prison escapee in October 1988 when he killed John E. Howard, 53, with whom he briefly shared an apartment. Howard's severely beaten body was found in the apartment with his hands and feet bound with wire.

Prosecutors said Howard was killed because he wanted Duckett to move out. The defense alleged that Howard made a homosexual pass at Duckett, who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after a prison rape.

Duckett was serving time for a 1983 robbery and beating when he escaped from prison in 1987. Prosecutors also presented evidence that he had beaten and robbed an 85-year-old man in 1982.

Howard's brother, Tom, said Howard had recently returned from New York to help him with his Oklahoma City convenience store business. John Howard had given Duckett a job working in one of the stores.

Mark Howard said his father was known for taking people in and helping them out.

Both men planned to witness the execution.

"It means the man who took my father's life will not be allowed to have that opportunity anywhere else, with anyone else," Mark Howard said.

Duckett spent his final hours visiting with his parents. He was served his requested last meal of a small pizza, a chili cheese coney, a half-gallon of cookie-dough ice cream and a vanilla Coke.

An appeals court last year refused to overturn Duckett's death sentence despite condemning retired Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy's handling of the case.

"Macy's persistent misconduct, though it has not legally harmed the defendant in the present case, has without doubt harmed the reputation of Oklahoma's criminal justice system and left the unenviable legacy of an indelibly tarnished legal career," 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges wrote.

Duckett becomes the 11th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Oklahoma and the 66th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1990. Oklahoma trails only Texas (306) and Virginia (88) in the number of executions since the United States Supreme Court re-legalized the death penalty on July 2, 1976.

Duckett becomes the 42nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 862nd overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977.