Georgia murderer executed

ATLANTA, June 4 (UPI) -- Georgia Wednesday executed convicted murderer Curtis Osborne following a judicial review and rejection of clemency by the state Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Osborne, convicted of the 1990 murders of Arthur Jones and Linda Lisa Seaborne in a dispute over $400, was the second person in Georgia in a month to be put to death, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Osborne was also the fourth death row inmate to die since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection.

Osborne's execution was set for 7 p.m. EDT, but was delayed 55 minutes while the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed his final appeal, the newspaper said. The execution was delayed further as executioners searched 35 minutes to find a vein they could use to administer drugs to carry out the death sentence.

Osborne was pronounced dead at 0:05 p.m.

At his trial, prosecutors said Osborne killed Jones when Jones demanded Osborne give him the $400 he obtained by selling Jones's motorcycle. Seaborne was slain because she witnessed the first murder.

Osborne's case for clemency had been championed by former President Jimmy Carter and former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Larry Thompson, who each wrote letters to the clemency board pleading for mercy. Also speaking on Osborne's behalf was former U.S. Attorney General Griffin Bell, the newspaper said.