Michigan City - David Leon Woods was executed by lethal injection early Friday for killing a 77-year-old man during a 1984 burglary.
Woods, 42, was pronounced dead at 12:35 a.m. Central Daylight Time, officials at the Indiana State Prison said.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected requests that Woods' execution be stayed Thursday, as did the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels also denied clemency for Woods on Thursday. The state Parole Board had earlier unanimously recommended against granting clemency.
Woods' attorneys had tried to stop the execution on the grounds that Indiana's lethal injection protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. He also disputed the state court's method of determining whether he was mentally retarded, which could have rendered him ineligible for the death penalty.
"It is my wish that the joy of peace through forgiveness be shared to those who are living in the past," Woods said in a final written statement. "Jesus Christ is the one. Let's all come together and help one another."
Woods was the first person put to death in Indiana since Marvin Bieghler on January 27, 2006. Before that, the state executed five people in seven months in 2005. That was the most in one year in Indiana since 1938, when eight men were electrocuted over nine months.
Woods was convicted of killing Juan Placencia during a 1984 burglary in Garrett, about 20 miles north of Fort Wayne.
Woods spent 22 years on death row. During his clemency hearing last month, Woods said he broke into Placencia's house because he thought he wouldn't be home and he wanted to collect belongings of his mother, Placencia's former girlfriend. He said he stabbed Placencia because he startled him.
"I want Juan's family to know I truly am sorry and I do have remorse," Woods said in his last verbal statement.
Juan Placencia's son, Gene Placencia, who was allowed to witness the execution under a new state law, said he was disappointed that Woods did not look at him, but he still felt satisfied.
"I've got closure today," said Placencia, who was wearing a pin with his father's picture on it. "I feel good. I don't mean that in a mean way. I feel like I can get on with my life."
Woods' attorney, William Van Der Pol, Jr., spoke on behalf of Woods' family.
"Tonight should not be about retribution for the past, but hope for the future," he said. "Society should not take great solace or great glee in David's passing this evening."
(Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
