USA; ARKANSAS, UCCISE TRE GIOVANI, GIUSTIZIATO

WASHINGTON, 10 LUG - Nella prigione di Varner, in Arkansas, e' stata eseguita, mercoledi' sera, la condanna a morte di un uomo che, nel giugno del 1995, aveva ucciso tre giovani credendo di vendicare l'assassinio del fratello.

Riley Dobi Noel, 31 anni, e' morto poco dopo avere ricevuto l'iniezione letale. Le ultime parole sono state indirizzate ai suoi familiari.

Il giorno del delitto, Noel, con tre complici, fece irruzione in una casa di Little Rock, la capitale dell'Arkansas, alla ricerca di una donna che, a torto, credeva fosse stata complice dell'omicidio del fratello avvenuto una settimana prima.

Non trovando la donna, uccise, ciascuno con un colpo alla nuca, i tre fratelli, di 17, 12 e 10 anni. Per la strage, i complici di Noel sono stati condannati a pene variabili tra l'ergastolo e i vent'anni.

Noel e' stato la 25.a persona messa legalmente a morte nell'Arkansas, da quando, nel 1990, lo Stato ha ripreso le esecuzioni capitali.

A  man who killed three children in the mistaken belief that their sister set up his brother for a gang hit was executed after courts and the governor  rejected his pleas for mercy.

  Arkansas - Riley Dobi Noel, 31, was pronounced dead by injection at 9:07 p.m.   Wednesday, prison spokeswoman Dina Tyler said.

In his final statement, Noel said: <I want my family to know I love them.

I want my kids to know I love Jesus.>  Noel had wanted one more round of mental examinations to prove that he had a brain disorder that would prevent his execution. The U.S. Supreme Court and Gov. Mike Huckabee turned Noel down Wednesday.

Jurors sentenced Noel to die after finding that he killed the three children execution-style on June 4, 1995, forcing them to lie on their kitchen floor before shooting each once in the head.

According to prosecutors, Noel and others burst into a southwest Little Rock home looking for Yashica Young, whom Noel believed had set up his brother, Cornelius <Skeeter> Ganaway. When he couldn't find her, he shot Malak Hussain, 10; Mustafa Hussain, 12; and Marcell Young, 17.

Kyle Jones of Miami, who had been Marcell Young's fiance, was selected to be one of the victims' family witnesses to watch the execution on closed-circuit television.

<He chose to make the decision to take their lives,> Jones said after the execution. <Today the state of Arkansas chose to take his and I'm happy with it. I can move on knowing I won't have to live with this again.>