Missouri killer David Zink executed for 14-year-old murder case

BONNE TERRE, Miss., July 15 (UPI) -- Missouri killer David Zink was executed Tuesday night after urging others on death row to embrace the fate that awaits them.

Zink, 55, said that execution is better than spending one's life in prison, adding that statistically speaking, death row inmates have an easier death than most and should celebrate the liberation it brings before society condemns them to life sentences without parole.

Zink was pronounced dead at 7:41 p.m. following lethal injection at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Mo.

Zink was convicted in 2004 of brutally murdering 19-year-old Amanda Morton in Strafford, Mo., on July 12, 2001, after he drove under the influence of alcohol and rear-ended her truck on an interstate off ramp close to her home. Zink confessed to police that he did not want to go back to prison and felt that his fender-bender with Morton threatened his freedom.

Zink had recently served 20 years of a 33-year sentence in Texas for kidnapping and raping a woman there.

During a videotaped interview, Zink said that he abducted Morton by taking her to a nearby hotel where he told her he was going to kill her. The court determined that Zink raped Morton before taking her to a cemetery and propping her up against a tree, snapping her neck and cutting her spinal cord with a knife.

Prior to his embrace of the death penalty, Zink fought a losing legal battle to avoid execution, citing the penalty was unconstitutional. Zink unsuccessfully asked for clemency and ultimately told Morton's family that he hopes his death brings them the peace and satisfaction they seek.

Following Zink's execution, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon asked the people of Missouri to remember Morton and keep her loved ones in their thoughts and prayers.

Zink's death comes a month after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of the drug midazolam in lethal injections, a controversial decision that claimed the drug prolonged the dying process for inmates when administered.

Missouri and Texas have administered all lethal injections in the U.S. this year, and both have scheduled lethal injections to be administered this week.