Oklahoma Executes Man Who Gunned Down Aunt

Oklahoma executed a man on Tuesday who killed his aunt with a gunshot to the head despite appeals to have his death sentence stayed on the grounds that the murderer suffered from mental illness.

Robert Leroy Bryan, 63, was given a lethal injection of chemicals at the state's death chamber in McAlester for killing his aunt Mildred Inabell Bryan in 1993.

Attorneys for Bryan had tried to have the execution stayed, arguing that their client is mentally incompetent and should not be executed.

The execution was delayed for about 80 minutes as the U.S. Supreme Court considered a last-minute appeal before allowing the execution to go forward, said Jerry Massie, a spokesman for the Oklahoma prison system. "I've made peace with my maker," Bryan said in a barely audible voice in his final statement. "I'll be leaving here shortly."

There were about 15 family members and friends on hand for the execution.

Bryan becomes the 5th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Oklahoma, and the 74th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1990. Oklahoma trails only Texas (322) and Virginia (91) in the number of executions carried out since the death penalty was re-legalized in America on July 2, 1976.

Bryan becomes the 29th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 914th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977.