OKLAHOMA - Vietnamese refugee put to death for 1992 murder

In McAlester, after several attempts to save the life of convicted murderer Hung Thanh Le, the Vietnamese refugee was executed at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary on Tuesday.

Le, 37, was put to death by lethal injection at 6:04 p.m. for the 1992 stabbing death of Oklahoma City beauty salon owner Hai Nguyen.

Attorneys for Le were pursuing legal appeals Tuesday, but the Oklahoma Criminal Court of Criminal Appeals rejected a request to stay the execution. Le had no other appeals pending.

Death penalty opponents rallied at the Capitol Tuesday asking Gov. Brad Henry to give Le clemency.

Le's attorney, Lanita Henricksen, had argued that Le was denied access to assistance from the Vietnamese consulate, as guaranteed by the Geneva Convention.

< Vietnam and the United States did not have diplomatic relations when Le was arrested for the murder in November of 1992. The 2 countries resumed relations in July 1995. Le was convicted in September 1995.

Tuesday was his 3rd execution date.

Le had been scheduled to die Feb. 26, but officials from the Vietnamese Embassy asked Henry to delay the execution so the embassy could have time to review the case.

His 1st execution date in January was delayed so Henry could review the case after the Pardon and Parole Board unanimously recommended clemency for Le. Henry later rejected that request.

Le ate his last meal before he was strapped to a gurney and given a lethal mixture of drugs. Le confessed to killing Nguyen, 34, the night he was arrested. Le becomes the 4th condemned inmate executed in Oklahoma this year, and the 73rd overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1990.

Le becomes the 19th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 904th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977.