SMYRNA, Del. -- James Allen Red Dog, a five-time killer who said he wanted to die as a martyr to the American Indian movement, was executed by lethal injection in Delaware Wednesday.
Red Dog, 39, was pronounced dead at 10:28 a.m.
The Lakota Sioux pleaded no contest in 1992 to the February 1991 murder of motel accountant Hugh Pennington at the victim's suburban Wilmington, Del. home.
Red Dog had been jailed for four killings in other states but at the time of the Delaware killing was on parole and in the federal witness protection program.
As the injection began to take effect, Red Dog mouthed the words 'I love you' to his wife, Bonnie Red Dog, who was in the witness chamber with his public defender Edward Pankowski Jr. Also watching was John Mosette, a Sioux medicine man who had been Red Dog's spiritual counselor.
Just before entering the execution chamber, Red Dog and Mosette conducted a ritual ceremony. Then Red Dog thanked his family and friends, especially Pankowski, for their support and said, 'As for the rest of you, you all can kiss my ass.'
Red Dog was the second person to be executed by Delaware since it reinstated the death penalty in 1992. Stephen Pennell was executed by lethal injection in March 1992 for the murder of five prostitutes. The last execution before that was in 1946, by hanging.
Pankowski said attmepots to halt the execution late Tuesday were called off at Red Dog's request. A spiritual advisor of the Sioux who had tried to counsel Red Dog to fight the execution was not at the prison when he died. However, about two dozen people, among them several Indians, were outside to protest Red Dog's death.
