2:42 p.m.: SC executes Reed by electrocution

The Associated Press

June 21, 2008 02:41 pm

— COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents 14 years ago has been executed in the state’s electric chair.
James Earl Reed was pronounced dead at 11:27 p.m. Friday in the state’s death chamber in Columbia. First scheduled for 6 p.m., the execution was delayed by a last-ditch legal fight that ultimately was quashed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Reed had been on South Carolina’s death row since 1996 for the murders of Joseph and Barbara Lafayette.
Reed represented himself during his trial, denying the killings despite a confession and arguing that no physical evidence placed him at the scene.
Reed was the first person executed by electric chair in the U.S. in nearly a year and South Carolina’s first since 2004.