JACKSON, Ga. (AP) ‐ A man convicted of killing a Georgia convenience store clerk 25 years ago was put to death late Wednesday night, authorities said.Inmate Ray Jefferson Cromartie, 52, was pronounced dead at 10:59 p.m. Wednesday after an injection of pentobarbital at the state prison in Jackson. He made no last statement but requested a prayer to be recited before the drugs began flowing.
Cromartie was convicted and sentenced to die for the April 1994, slaying of Richard Slysz at a convenience store in Thomasville, near the Georgia-Florida line. The state said Cromartie also had shot and gravely wounded another convenience store clerk days before the killing.
Wednesday’s execution came shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court, without explanation, rejected two appeals by the inmate’s attorneys.
Cromartie took a number of deep breaths while looking at the ceiling before closing his eyes and going still about five minutes after the drugs began flowing, at one point forming his mouth into an "O" and exhaling heavily. Strapped and taped down to a gurney, Cromartie moved little if at all. A news media witness said Cromartie didn’t struggle and said nothing while being strapped down to a gurney.