WASHINGTON,  - In Oklahoma, e' stata eseguita iersera, la condanna a morte di un uomo che, nel 1994 uccise quattro persone, sparando loro alla testa, durante una sorta di raid lungo un'autostrada che collegava vari Stati. Uno degli omicidi, tutti confessati dall'assassino, avvenne in Oklahoma.

Lewis Eugene Gilbert, 31 anni, e' stato messo a morte, poco dopo le 19.00 locali, le due del mattino di mercoledi' in Italia, con un'iniezione letale, dopo che i suoi legali avevano inutilmente cercato di bloccare l'esecuzione, s'ignora su che basi.

Gilbert, con un complice, compi' un omicidio nell'Ohio, due nel Missouri e uno in Oklahoma, ogni volta accompagnando gli assassinii con piccole rapine. I due vennero poi arrestati nel New Mexico e confessarono i loro delitti.

Prima d'essere messo a morte, Gilbert ha detto alcune parole d'ispirazione religiosa. Il suo complice, Eric Elliott, sta scontando una condanna all'ergastolo senza possibilita'

di liberta' vigilata. 

Gilbert e' stato il decimo condannato messo a morte in Oklahoma quest'anno e il 64.o da quando le esecuzioni sono riprese nello Stato nel 1994. 

OKLAHOMA - Gilbert executed

In McAlester, an Ohio man was executed Tuesday for killing a security guard during a deadly multistate crime spree. Lewis Eugene Gilbert was pronounced dead at 7:11 p.m. after receiving a lethal mix of drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Gilbert, of Newcomerstown, Ohio, had also been sentenced to death in Missouri for killing William and Flossie Brewer, and had confessed to killing Ruth Lucille Loader in Ohio, authorities said.

Ruddell's husband, Eddie Ruddell, said before the execution that he is still too upset to visit her grave.

The death penalty was the only appropriate punishment for Gilbert, he said. "I think it'll bring closure to the whole thing and Roxy will finally get the justice that she deserves," he said. "She was a warm, caring person, loved everybody, did anything for anyone that asked." Ruddell said the crime has had a lasting impact. "It destroyed lives," he said. "It totally just destroyed lives."

Prosecutors in Gilbert's Oklahoma trial said he and Eric Elliot started the spree in Ohio, where they approached Loader's home. Gilbert and Elliot kicked in the back door and tied Loader up. They stole $40 and her car, then put her in the trunk, authorities said. They took her to the woods, where they shot her in the head 3 times. Her remains haven't been found. Gilbert and Elliot then drove Loader's car to Missouri, where they approached the Brewers' home.

They knocked on the door and asked to use the telephone. They held the Brewers at gunpoint, marched them into the cellar and shot each of them in the head 3 times, authorities said. Ruddell and had gone fishing after her shift as a security guard at Lake Stanley Draper when Gilbert and Elliot approached her, intending to steal her pickup. They took her to a nearby wooded area and forced her to sit under a tree as they rummaged through her purse, took her keys and stole $2 or $3. Ruddell told the pair she wouldn't call police if they didn't hurt her, but Gilbert reportedly thought she was lying and grew angry, authorities said. Elliot tied Ruddell's hands and Gilbert shot her 3 times in the head and once in the back of the neck. Gilbert and Elliot were arrested in New Mexico, where they admitted to Ruddell's killing and confessed to the murders of Loader and the Brewers.

Elliot is serving a sentence of life in prison without parole. Gilbert's attorneys in Missouri worked until the last minute Tuesday trying to get the execution stayed. The U.S. Supreme Court returned a request for a stay of execution to a lower court for consideration. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals denied the request and it returned to the U.S. Supreme Court, which then rejected it. The execution was delayed for about an hour.

Gilbert's Oklahoma death sentence was base partly on evidence from the Missouri case.

Gilbert becomes the 10th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Oklahoma and the 65th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1990. Gilbert becomes the 148th inmate executed in Oklahoma's history.

The state trails only Texas (305) and Virginia (88) in executions since the death penalty was re-legalized in America on July 2, 1976.

Gilbert becomes the 40th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 860th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977.