By BOB JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer
ATMORE, Ala. – Alabama’s longest serving death row inmate has been executed by lethal injection for the 1976 kidnapping, rape and murder of a young convenience store clerk.
Thomas Whisenhant died Thursday at 6:20 p.m. CDT at Holman prison near Atmore. He did not have any last words.
The 63-year-old inmate filed no stay requests as the 6 p.m. execution drew near Thursday.
Court records show Whisenhant, then 29, confessed to killing Sheryl Lynn Payton and two other convenience store clerks in a similar fashion. The crimes terrorized the Mobile area.
He had avoided execution for more than three decades because of prosecutorial error and successful appeals.