Man Executed For Killing Gas Station Worker

A man has become the ninth person to be executed in Missouri this year - equalling the highest annual figure in the US state.

Leon Taylor, 56, was pronounced dead about eight minutes after he was given a lethal injection at the state prison in Bonne Terre.

His fate was sealed on Tuesday when Governor Jay Nixon declined to grant clemency and the US Supreme Court turned down his appeal.

The execution took place without any visible hitches or complications with the drug or equipment.

There have been problems this year in other states with drugs taking an extended period to kill an inmate.

Taylor was convicted of shooting dead petrol station attendant Robert Newton, 53, in front of the worker's eight-year-old stepdaughter in Kansas City 1994.

He also tried to kill the girl but the gun jammed and he locked her in a back room as Taylor, along with his half-brother and half-sister, drove away after the robbery, according to court records.

With Taylor's death, Missouri has had the same number of executions as in 1999.

Four of the murderer's family members sat in a room to his left and looked on without reaction as the drug pentobarbital killed him.

In a final statement, Taylor apologised to Mr Newton's family because "our lives had to entwine so tragically" and thanked his family for their support and love.

He added: "I am also sorry to have brought all of you to this point in my life to witness this and/or participate. Stay strong and keep your heads to the sky."

Speaking to reporters after the execution, the victim's brother Dennis Smith said it had been about 7,500 days since the killing and added the family has missed Mr Newton on every one of them.