ALABAMA - Alabama executes inmate for 1984 murder

In Atmore, Michael Eugene Thompson was executed by lethal injection Thursday for the 1984 murder of an Attalla store clerk who was abducted, forced into a well and shot to death.

Thompson, 43, became the 2nd Alabama inmate executed by lethal injection after the U.S. Supreme Court turned back his attorney's petition claiming Gov. Bob Riley failed to hold a proper clemency hearing.

Thompson was pronounced dead at 7 p.m., an hour after his execution was scheduled. Prisons spokesman Brian Corbett said the procedure didn't begin until 6:37 p.m. because doctors couldn't find a vein where they could insert the IV into Thompson's arm. Officials at Holman Prison near Atmore also had to wait for word that the U.S. Supreme Court had denied Thompson's petition for a stay.

Thompson was convicted in the abduction and shooting death of Maisie Carlene Gray, 57, who had been working at the Attalla convenience store about 3 weeks when she was robbed and forced into a car trunk on Dec. 10, 1984.

He made no final statement, but mouthed the words "I love you" to a friend, Mary Ann Gardner. Gardner, a death penalty opponent from Roswell, Ga., had asked Gov. Bob Riley to grant clemency to Thompson.

None of Thompson's family attended the execution, though he met with about 15 visitors Thursday, including his mother, 3 brothers and a spiritual adviser. He was served a last meal at about 1:15 p.m. and appeared in good spirits, Corbett said.

Evelyn Elliott, Gray's daughter, said she was disappointed that Thompson showed no remorse toward her or her 2 brothers who watched him die.

"He did not look in our direction or offer any apology," Elliott said. "It was horrible ... but if anyone deserved to die, it was him."

Attorneys for Thompson had skipped a clemency hearing with Riley on Tuesday, saying the governor made comments over the weekend that showed he had already made up his mind the execution should take place.

Thompson's attorneys chose instead to appeal to the state Supreme Court, which denied their request for a stay and an order that a clemency hearing be provided before an impartial person.

In earlier rounds of appeal, Thompson's attorneys had argued their client was provided inadequate counsel during trial, including that his lawyers assumed Thompson was guilty, said attorney Marjorie Smith.

Those arguments were rejected in federal appeals court.

"If you're defending somebody you don't start out by saying `Yeah, he did this,"' she said.

According to court records, Thompson forced the store clerk into his car trunk and drove to Blount County, where he made her get into a well and then shot into the well until he ran out of ammunition. Then he drove to pick up his girlfriend, obtained more ammunition, and fired 7 or 8 more shots into the well to make sure Gray was dead, according to court records.

Elliott, of Attalla, said she and her family are still unsure what prompted the robbery that resulted in her mother's murder. She has said that Thompson has claimed he wanted money to buy Christmas presents, but the family questions that.

Thompson becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Alabama and the 26th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on April 22, 1983.

Thompson becomes the 16th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 836th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977.