Mississippi completes its first execution since 2012, the tenth in the US in 2021

As reported in this AP piece, “A man who pleaded guilty to killing his estranged wife and sexually assaulting her young daughter as her mother lay dying was put to death Wednesday evening, becoming the first inmate executed in Mississippi in nine years.” Here is more:

David Neal Cox, 50, abandoned all appeals and filed court papers calling himself “worthy of death” before the state Supreme Court set his execution date.  He received a lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. CST at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.

Cox had pleaded guilty in 2012 to capital murder for the May 2010 shooting death of his estranged wife, Kim Kirk Cox. He also pleaded guilty to multiple other charges, including sexual assault.  A jury handed down the death sentence….

Cox appeared to take several deep breaths after the lethal chemicals started flowing through a clear plastic tube into his body, and his mouth moved some. After several minutes, the local coroner pronounced him dead.

Among those who gathered to witness the execution was Cox’s now 23-year-old stepdaughter.  She was 12 when he sexually assaulted her three times in front of her wounded mother as he held them and one of her younger brothers hostage on the night of May 14 and May 15, 2010, in the small town of Sherman.

Mississippi carried out six executions in 2012.  The state does not have any others scheduled among the more than 30 people currently on its death row.  States have had difficulty finding lethal injection drugs because pharmaceutical companies began blocking the use of their products to carry out death sentences….

A group that opposes executions, Death Penalty Action, said killing an inmate who surrendered all appeals would amount to “state-sponsored suicide.” The group petitioned Republican Gov. Tate Reeves to block the execution of Cox, but Reeves’ spokeswoman said the governor would not intervene because Cox admitted to ”horrific crimes.”