A man who raped and killed a 16-year-old girl in Mississippi was put to death by lethal injection on Wednesday, becoming the second inmate executed in the state in 10 years.
Thomas Edwin Loden Jr., 58, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. by Sunflower County Coroner Heather Burton. He'd been on death row since 2001, when he pleaded guilty to capital murder, rape and four counts of sexual battery against Leesa Marie Gray. She was stranded with a flat tire in June 2000 when Loden forced her into his van.
Gray's mother, Wanda Farris, attended the execution at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, about 130 miles (210 kilometers) north of the capital, Jackson. Mississippi's most recent execution was in November 2021.
Earlier this month, a federal judge declined to block Loden's execution amid a pending lawsuit by him and four other Mississippi death row inmates over the state's use of three drugs for lethal injections, a protocol they allege is inhumane.
During the execution, Loden wore a red prison jumpsuit and was covered by a white sheet. Brown leather straps held him down on a gurney.
Before the injection started, Loden said he was "deeply remorseful."
"For the past 20 years, I've tried to do a good deed every single day to make up for the life I took from this world," Loden said. "I know these are mere words and cannot erase the damage I did. If today brings you nothing else, I hope you get peace and closure."
He concluded his last words by saying "I love you" in Japanese, officials said.
Grey had been working as a waitress at her uncle's restaurant in northeast Mississippi during the summer ahead of her senior year of high school. On June 22, 2000, she left work after dark and got a flat tire.
Loden, a Marine Corps recruiter with relatives in the area, stopped at around 10:45 p.m. and began talking with her about the flat. "Don't worry. I'm a Marine. We do this kind of stuff," he said.
Loden told investigators he became angry after Gray allegedly said she would never want to be a Marine, and he ordered her into his van. He spent four hours sexually assaulting her before strangling and suffocating her, he told investigators.
The following afternoon, court records say "Loden was discovered lying by the side of a road with the words `I'm sorry' carved into his chest and apparent self-inflicted lacerations on his wrists."
Farris described her daughter as a "happy-go-lucky, always smiling" teenager who aspired to become an elementary school teacher.
"She wasn't perfect, now, mind you," Farris said. "But she strived to do right."
Farris declined to speak to reporters following the execution.
A week earlier, U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate ruled the execution could proceed, saying the U.S. Supreme Court had upheld a three-drug lethal injection protocol in Oklahoma as recently as seven years ago.
In November, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey sought a pause in executions and ordered a "top-to-bottom" review of the state's capital punishment system after a series of failed lethal injections.
Mississippi has done "mock executions and drills" on a monthly basis to avoid a botched execution, Jeworski Mallett, deputy commissioner of institutions for the Department of Corrections, told reporters.
The Department of Corrections revealed in court papers in July 2021 that it had acquired three drugs for its lethal injection protocol: midazolam, which is a sedative; vecuronium bromide, which paralyzes the muscles; and potassium chloride, which stops the heart.
Since 2019, only Alabama, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Tennessee have used a three-drug protocol, said Jim Craig, a MacArthur Center attorney, speaking at a November court hearing.
Craig said a majority of death-penalty states and the federal government used a three-drug protocol in 2008, but the federal government and most of those states have since started using one drug.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 27 states have the death penalty. There are 36 inmates on death row in Mississippi.
Death Penalty Action, a group opposed to capital punishment, convened a news conference Tuesday in front of the state capitol.
"Clearly, something in him snapped for him to commit such a horrific crime," said Mitzi Magleby, a spokesperson for the Mississippi chapter of Ignite Justice, an organization that advocates for criminal justice reform. "Mr. Loden was immediately remorseful. Shouldn't there be room for grace and mercy in such a situation?"
Loden hoped his execution would be the country's last, his attorney Mark McDonald said in a statement following the execution.
At a news conference Wednesday, Burl Cain, commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, said Loden fully cooperated with officials.
"He professed his sorrow. But he was quite upbeat and he ate hardy," Cain said. His last meal included two bone-in fried pork chops, sweet potatoes, and peach cobbler with ice cream.
Farris, the victim's mother, told The Associated Press on Friday that she forgave Loden years ago, but did not believe his apology.
"I don't particularly want to see somebody die," Farris said. "But I do believe in the death penalty. ... I do believe in justice."
------
Emily Wagster Pettus contributed to this report. Michael Goldberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
U.S. forecasters are warning of destructive waves, devastating winds and flash floods through the week as Hurricane Milton makes its way from the Yucatan Peninsula toward Florida.
A seasoned American meteorologist became emotional on air as he gave an update on a major hurricane, later suggesting the reason behind his strong reaction.
Former cabinet minister Marc Garneau, who describes himself in his new book as always-a-Liberal, 'but a decidedly blue one,' says he hopes the party still has room for someone like him.
The renewed pleas of people in Fort Chipewyan, Alta. for government to take action cleaning up contamination in their community have reached the ears of federal Transport Minister Anita Anand.
Emotions boiled over after a judge acquitted two out of three defendants in a manslaughter case, while the third accused has since died.
WeightWatchers said on Tuesday it would offer a compounded version of Novo Nordisk's popular obesity drug Wegovy as part of its weight-management programs.
On September 11, 80-year-old Madeleine Gervais was robbed in Ottawa's west end. It happened in the Loblaws parking lot in College Square, when she was approached by a man and a woman who insisted to help her load her groceries into her car.
In his column for CTVNews.ca, former NDP leader Tom Mulcair argues that the dramatic side to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, and his tendency to 'play everything to the hilt,' could well become his undoing.
An American family doctor is frustrated with what she says has been a challenging two-year-and-counting bureaucratic journey to be accepted into Canada.
On September 11, 80-year-old Madeleine Gervais was robbed in Ottawa's west end. It happened in the Loblaws parking lot in College Square, when she was approached by a man and a woman who insisted to help her load her groceries into her car.
More than two weeks have passed since Hassan Ali walked out of a Toronto courtroom a free man, after prosecutors decided not to move forward with a first-degree murder trial against the local rapper.
The province鈥檚 consumer watchdog is investigating a Saskatoon company selling luxury vacation condos in Mexico.
An American family doctor is frustrated with what she says has been a challenging two-year-and-counting bureaucratic journey to be accepted into Canada.
Border officers in B.C.'s Lower Mainland made more than 60 seizures of methamphetamine bound for Australia in a six-month span earlier this year, totalling more than eight million doses of the drug.
Elections BC is reissuing new 'where to vote' cards to some residents after an administrative error mistakenly recommended voting places that were farther from homes than necessary.
Donald Trump has had as many as seven private phone calls with Vladimir Putin since leaving office and secretly sent the Russian president COVID-19 test machines during the height of the pandemic, Bob Woodward reported in his new book, 'War.'
A seasoned American meteorologist became emotional on air as he gave an update on a major hurricane, later suggesting the reason behind his strong reaction.
A former New York City official was charged Tuesday with witness tampering and destroying evidence in a federal investigation that led to Mayor Eric Adams鈥 bribery indictment. The arrest came amid yet more high-profile departures from Adams' administration as federal prosecutors delve deeper into allegations that the mayor was involved in a coverup.
Britain is facing a "staggering rise" in assassination attempts on U.K. soil by Russia and Iran, as the hostile states recruit criminals to "do their dirty work" for them, the head of the U.K.'s domestic intelligence agency said Tuesday.
A German court on Tuesday acquitted a man who is also under investigation in the 2007 disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann in a trial on charges of unrelated sexual offences.
Kamala Harris called Donald Trump 'incredibly irresponsible' for spreading falsehoods about the federal response to Hurricane Helene's destruction, offering especially sharp words as a new storm bears down on Florida with just weeks until Election Day.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says the government has no intention of proroguing Parliament to end an impasse with the Tories over a matter of privilege.
Former cabinet minister Marc Garneau, who describes himself in his new book as always-a-Liberal, 'but a decidedly blue one,' says he hopes the party still has room for someone like him.
A Conservative MP from Newfoundland and Labrador says some small towns in his rural riding are overrun with crime, but police say they haven't received reports to that effect.
One in eight women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in their lifetimes, according to the American Cancer Society. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for women in the United States, with 42,000 women dying every year from this cancer.
A new report that looks at the sex lives of Canadian youth suggests more needs to be done to encourage safe sex, including reversing a decrease in condom use.
The Ontario government has lowered the age for regular mammogram breast screening to allow all woman between the age of 40 and 49 to self-refer for the service.
A British-Canadian researcher has won the Nobel Prize in physics for work developing the foundations of machine learning and artificial intelligence. The University of Toronto's Geoffrey Hinton was awarded the prize Tuesday morning, along with Princeton University researcher John Hopfield.
A device used by researchers with Fisheries and Oceans Canada appears to have been the victim of an attack by a great white shark.
A bipartisan group of 14 U.S. attorneys general from across the country filed lawsuits on Tuesday against TikTok, alleging that the platform has 鈥渁ddicted鈥 young people and harmed their mental health.
An elevator mechanic mistakenly threw out a piece of artwork, made to look like empty beer cans, assuming it was litter, a Dutch museum revealed earlier this month.
The "Star Trek" star, Chris Pine, has a new children's book out, titled "When Digz the Dog Met Zurl the Squirrel: A Short Tale About a Short Tail."
Cissy Houston, the mother of the late Whitney Houston and a two-time Grammy winner who performed alongside superstar musicians like Elvis Presley, and Aretha Franklin, has died. She was 91.
Statistics Canada says the country posted a merchandise trade deficit of $1.1 billion in August as lower oil prices weighed on exports.
A new report from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce is sending a stark warning ahead of the U.S. presidential election, saying protectionist policies like Donald Trump's proposed tariffs could damage economies on both sides of the border.
A Toronto senior says she can鈥檛 believe that two roofers took advantage of her, despite knowing she was recently widowed and suffering from a painful disability.
A woman in Greater Sudbury, Ont., said "It doesn't get more Canadian than this" when she spotted a black bear dumpster diving at a Tim Hortons last month.
A Winnipeg baker is hanging up his apron permanently because he won the lottery.
When it comes to raising a child, the majority of fathers say they share tasks equally, but fewer mothers tend to say the same thing, according to a Statistics Canada survey.
The NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers and NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning have left Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton to practice the rest of the week.
RJ Barrett will miss the rest of the Toronto Raptors' pre-season with an injury.
New York Jets owner Woody Johnson made the stunning decision Tuesday to fire Saleh five games into his fourth season after the team's 2-3 start following a 23-17 loss to Minnesota in London on Sunday.
Mercedes-Benz has partnered up with the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN) and the provincial government to launch a new 鈥渋ncubator program鈥. One of the first three locations is Windsor, with the other two going to Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo.
New data from the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) shows that even though claims for auto theft dropped in the first half of 2024 compared to their 2023 peak, the rates of reported theft remain well above those of years prior.
Tesla is recalling more than 27,000 Cybertrucks because the rearview camera image may not activate immediately after shifting into reverse, the fifth recall for the vehicle since it went on sale late last year.
A B.C. couple is getting desperate 鈥 and creative 鈥 in their search for their missing dog.
Videos of a meteor streaking across the skies of southern Ontario have surfaced and small bits of the outer space rock may have made it to land, one astronomy professor says.
A unique form of clouds made an appearance over the skies of Ottawa on Sunday evening.
Bernie Hicks, known as the 鈥楤atman of Amherst,鈥 always wanted to sit in a Batmobile until a kind stranger made it happen.
Bubi鈥檚 Awesome Eats, located on University Ave West took to social media to announce the closure on Friday.
Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.
Manitobans are in cleanup mode after intense winds barreled through southern parts of the province this weekend.
Avry Wortman, 13, scored two touchdowns on Sunday during her team's win in the under 14 Greater Moncton Football Association.
A gargantuan gourd 鈥 affectionately named 鈥極rangina鈥 by the urban gardeners who grew it in the front yard of their Vancouver home 鈥 earned the massive honour of being named B.C.鈥檚 heaviest giant pumpkin Saturday.
A Vancouver Island man has been charged in connection with a hit-and-run crash that killed a teenager near Duncan, B.C., earlier this year.
Border officers in B.C.'s Lower Mainland made more than 60 seizures of methamphetamine bound for Australia in a six-month span earlier this year, totalling more than eight million doses of the drug.
Police are investigating after a 60-year-old woman was struck and killed by a vehicle Tuesday morning in Abbotsford, B.C.
More than two weeks have passed since Hassan Ali walked out of a Toronto courtroom a free man, after prosecutors decided not to move forward with a first-degree murder trial against the local rapper.
Some City of Toronto park crews did half as much maintenance work as they reported and instead appeared to hang out at plazas and eateries, a new report from the city鈥檚 Auditor General has found.
Police are searching for five teenagers who allegedly sexually assaulted a female youth in Vaughan over the weekend.
Calgary police are investigating after several shots were fired by a suspect into a truck in the northeast community of Saddle Ridge.
A Calgary officer's use of force in an August police-involved shooting has been deemed appropriate following an investigation.
Calgary's police chief is worried possible changes to Alberta's photo radar rules will affect safety for both residents and officers 鈥 and not just on the roads.
On September 11, 80-year-old Madeleine Gervais was robbed in Ottawa's west end. It happened in the Loblaws parking lot in College Square, when she was approached by a man and a woman who insisted to help her load her groceries into her car.
An Ottawa man who stabbed his estranged wife to death in an attack that also injured his daughter in Ottawa's west end has been found guilty of first-degree murder and attempted murder.
The federal government announced 14 new properties will be added to the Canada Public Land Bank, the list of federal properties that could be turned into new homes, including seven in Ottawa and two in Gatineau, Que.
Quebec coroner G茅hane Kamel will preside over a public enquiry into the deaths of L茅onor Geraudie, 43, and her seven-year-old daughter V茅rane, who were killed in a fire in a heritage building in Old Montreal on Oct. 4 that also left two people injured.
Montreal police (SPVM) arrested a 15-year-old in connection with an alleged arson in Saint-Leonard that occurred on the weekend.
Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt said on Tuesday that one of its entities had filed for bankruptcy with a Stockholm court due to its financial situation.
A crash Tuesday morning between a train and a semi outside the Alberta town of Lamont is blocking traffic.
Edmonton's transit system is seeing record usage, with six million trips taken in September.
This is for people new to hockey. Not everyone who lives in Canada follows the game, even though it's the country's unofficial official sport. Hard for the hardcore hockey fan to understand, I know.
Police in New Brunswick are trying to track down a man they consider 鈥渁rmed and dangerous鈥 after he allegedly crashed a vehicle, waved a weapon at police, and fled in a stolen vehicle.
A device used by researchers with Fisheries and Oceans Canada appears to have been the victim of an attack by a great white shark.
Todd Joseph Gallant pleaded not guilty to the murder of Byron Carr in a Prince Edward Island courtroom on Tuesday.
Manitoba RCMP and the Winnipeg Police Service are launching Manitoba's Most Wanted website.
The Manitoba government has apologized in the legislature for clawing back federal benefit payments to kids in the child welfare system.
Manitoba health-care support workers will not be hitting the picket line on Tuesday morning.
A 35-year-old Regina man is facing multiple charges after police say he barricaded himself inside a basement suite and set fire to entryways.
The province鈥檚 consumer watchdog is investigating a Saskatoon company selling luxury vacation condos in Mexico.
Those in Saskatchewan gazing at the stars Monday night were treated to a brilliant display of northern lights 鈥 as a solar storm continues to bear down on the northern hemisphere.
Fire crews were called to respond to Mohawk Plaza shortly before 2 a.m. Tuesday.
Police say they received a 911 call from the involved pilot around 11:20 a.m. after they had crash-landed in a farm field near Newry Road.
The Ontario government has lowered the age for regular mammogram breast screening to allow all woman between the age of 40 and 49 to self-refer for the service.
The province鈥檚 consumer watchdog is investigating a Saskatoon company selling luxury vacation condos in Mexico.
A Saskatoon mom is desperately fighting eviction after she discovered mould in her suite and reported it to her landlord.
Those in Saskatchewan gazing at the stars Monday night were treated to a brilliant display of northern lights 鈥 as a solar storm continues to bear down on the northern hemisphere.
As U.S. regulators push for an investigation into what they call 'deadly baby and toddler products' from foreign e-commerce sites, health officials in Canada say they haven't determined whether any laws or regulations have been broken.
The mayor of Greater Sudbury is throwing his weight behind a proposal that could see 83 new residential units come out of the old Scotia Tower downtown.
Police in Huntsville are investigating a deadly single-vehicle collision that happened Tuesday morning.
U.S. forecasters are warning of destructive waves, devastating winds and flash floods through the week as Hurricane Milton makes its way from the Yucatan Peninsula toward Florida.
A 20 year old is charged with two counts of fail or refusal to comply with demand made by peace officer cause bodily harm, two counts of dangerous operation causing bodily harm, two counts of impaired operation cause bodily harm and transport cannabis
The latest COVID-19 vaccines have arrived in London and Middlesex. The first doses are reserved for people at the highest risk of infection and hospitalization.
A 20-year-old man who was behind the wheel of a speeding car that struck and killed an international student crossing Big Bay Point Road in Barrie last summer has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death.
Police in Huntsville are investigating a deadly single-vehicle collision that happened Tuesday morning.
Police arrested a man accused of setting an animal on fire in Orillia, Ont. last month.
Several cars are being pulled out of the Detroit River in west Windsor.
Windsor police say they are looking for the driver who crashed into the Children鈥檚 Aid Society building.
Chatham-Kent fire is asking residents in and around Wallaceburg to keep their windows and doors closed as they battle a railroad tie fire.
A Vancouver Island man has been charged in connection with a hit-and-run crash that killed a teenager near Duncan, B.C., earlier this year.
Elections BC is reissuing new 'where to vote' cards to some residents after an administrative error mistakenly recommended voting places that were farther from homes than necessary.
The leaders of B.C.'s three main political parties will be facing off Tuesday evening for their first and only televised debate ahead of the Oct. 19 election. Here's what viewers can expect.
Nearly two years after a man was stabbed to death in downtown Kelowna, RCMP have made an arrest in the case.
NDP Leader David Eby is promising to offer a $75-million loan forgiveness program to entice doctors, nurses and heath professionals to expand health-care services in rural British Columbia.
Three young suspects have been arrested in connection with a swarming attack on a teenager in B.C.'s Okanagan last week 鈥 and authorities have asked the public to stop circulating disturbing videos of the incident.
A metal fabrication company west of Medicine Hat has been fined by Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) following a workplace fatality in 2023.
A Lethbridge police officer involved in a scandal involving former Lethbridge New Democrat MLA Shannon Phillips has been reprimanded.
Lethbridge police say a man who escaped from a psychiatric ward at the Chinook Regional Hospital has been found.
A woman in Greater Sudbury, Ont., said "It doesn't get more Canadian than this" when she spotted a black bear dumpster diving at a Tim Hortons last month.
The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) is the latest organization to call on the Doug Ford government to re-open dialogue with an airline service that transports lower-income Canadians to crucial medical care far from home.
For decades, Mississauga First Nation has known that human remains from their land were at the Canadian Museum of History.
A Conservative MP from Newfoundland and Labrador says some small towns in his rural riding are overrun with crime, but police say they haven't received reports to that effect.
As millions in federal funding flow into a Labrador group whose claims of Inuit identity have been rejected by Indigenous organizations across Canada, a national Inuit leader worries the Liberal government is putting the rights of Indigenous Peoples at risk.
He may not have logged the fastest time or even gone the full distance, but residents of a Newfoundland town agree the goat who unexpectedly joined the local weekend half marathon was the event's undisputed champion.
The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at 麻豆影视. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop.聽Read about us.
