Missouri man executed for 1991 slaying of jeweler after day of appeals and denials
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE - This Dec. 13, 2011 file photo released by the Missouri Department of Corrections shows death-row inmate Herbert Smulls. Missouri on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014 executed Smulls, the state's third execution since November. (AP Photo/Missouri Department of Corrections, File) (The Associated Press)
Missouri has executed a man who was convicted of killing a jeweler during a 1991 robbery. It was the state's third lethal injected in as many months.
Herbert Smulls had been scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, but the U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary stay late Tuesday.
Wednesday saw numerous appeals from Smulls' attorney questioning the secretive nature of how the state obtains the execution drug, but all were denied.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Smulls was convicted of killing Stephen Honickman during a robbery at his jewelry shop in suburban St. Louis on July 27, 1991. Honickman's wife was badly injured but survived.
He was pronounced dead at 10:20 p.m. Wednesday, nine minutes after the execution process began.