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SOUTH CAROLINA - Byram executed for killing schoolteacher in 1993

Convicted killer Jason Scott Byram maintained his innocence in his final statement before he was executed at 6:15 p.m. Friday for the death of a Columbia schoolteacher.

Through his attorney Jay Elliott, he sent his condolences to the family of Julie Johnson. Johnson's mother held her brother's hand as the lethal chemicals were given to Byram.

Byram, 38, was convicted of killing the 36-year-old teacher with her own kitchen knife in May 1993 as she slept on the sofa. Her husband and 3 children also were asleep but didn't wake up until after Johnson had been stabbed several times.

Byram was convicted in 1995. He told authorities there was another man with him who struck the fatal blows, but prosecutors found his fingerprint inside the home and a DNA analysis found Johnson's blood on a shirt in Byram's apartment.

Prosecutor Barney Giese was confident the jury convicted the right man, and has said there was no evidence another man was involved.

Byram lost a final appeal to the state Supreme Court earlier this week.

Byram becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death in South Carolina this year and the 31st overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1985.

Byram becomes the 24th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 909th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977. The death penalty was re-legalized in America on July 2, 1976.