First execution of the Obama era carried out in Texas

There has been intriguingly little discussion of the death penalty at the national level in recent months(perhaps because, as suggested here and here, the Bush Administration may have been secretly supporting a moratorium on federal executions).  But, of course, the administration of capital punishment in Texas rarely takes a holiday: as detailed in this CNN story, the state executed a double-murderer last night. 

The CNN story notes that the defendant executed in Texas yesterday claimed he killed in self defense.  But, unable to get others to agree, the defendant ended up having the (historic?) distinction of being the first person executed during the first term of the first black President.  For readers eager to track death penalty trivia, this executed Texas defendant’s name was Frank Moore.

Some recent related posts:

• What might 2009 have in store for . . . the death penalty in the US?
• DPIC releases year-end report on state of death penalty in 2008
• Notable second-term Presidential execution realities
• As goes Maryland, so goes the nation on capital punishment?
• More evidence that the death penalty is dying a slow death on the front lines
• Any speculations on what this Election Day could mean for the death penalty?
• What might a new administration mean for the federal death penalty?
• Effective media coverage of capital punishment realities in China (but not of federal capital realities)