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Oklahoma executes triple killer

MCALESTER, Okla., March 12 (UPI) -- A man who killed three people during a crime spree in three states was executed Tuesday in Oklahoma, authorities said.

Steven Ray Thacker, 42, was put to death by lethal injection shortly after 6 p.m. local time in the state penitentiary in McAlester, KTUL-TV, Tulsa, reported. He had waived his right to a clemency hearing and did not try to stop his execution, the TV station said.

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Thacker was convicted of raping and killing Laci Dawn Hill, 25, of Bixby, Okla., in December 1999, and he also killed a Missouri man on New Year's Day 2000 and a man in Tennessee the following day.

Members of the victims' families watched Thacker die, WTUL-TV said.

He was not allowed visitors during his final day, but was allowed to make phone calls.

His last meal was a large pizza, a root beer and some chocolate-and-candy-coated peanuts.

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