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Missouri executes inmate for child support stabbing death

By Amy R. Connolly

ST. LOUIS, April 15 (UPI) -- A Missouri inmate convicted in a 1998 stabbing death over child-support payments became the third convicted killer put to death in the state this year.

Andre Cole, 52, was executed by lethal injection at 10:15 p.m. Monday and pronounced dead at 10:24 p.m.

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Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster released the following statement after the execution:

"Andre Cole planned and carried out a brutal act of domestic violence because he did not want to provide financial support for his child and his child's mother. It is my hope that the sentence carried out tonight brings those forever impacted by this tragedy a sense of justice and a measure of closure."

The barbiturate pentobarbital was used for the procedure, Dept. of Corrections spokesman Mike O'Connell said, adding Cole chose not to use any pain-relieving drugs before the execution.

Cole was convicted of stabbing to death Anthony Curtis, who was visiting Cole's former wife, Terri, at the time of the murder. Cole was behind on child support payments and became outraged when he learned his employer would begin withholding money from his paycheck. Curtis was stabbed 21 times before he attacked Terri. Cole fled the St. Louis area after the stabbing, but later turned himself in to police.

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The U.S. Supreme Court denied a last-minute appeal for a stay of execution.

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