Florida Execution Is 4th of the Week in US

A busy week of executions continued across the nation on Thursday, the latest two in Oklahoma and Florida:

• Oklahoma: The state on Thursday morning executed 56-year-old Wendell Grissom, who fatally shot a woman during a robbery of her home 20 years ago. Grissom received a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. His victim was 23-year-old Amber Matthews. Read more about his case at the Oklahoman.
• Florida: The state executed Edward James, 63, via lethal injection Thursday night at at Florida State Prison outside Starke, reports the AP. The Supreme Court denied his appeal without comment Thursday morning. James was convicted for the 1993 killings of 8-year-old Toni Neuner and the child's grandmother, Betty Dick, 58. He had been renting a room in Dick's house in Casselberry at the time, and killed them after a night of heavy drinking and drug use.

• Louisiana: The state used nitrogen gas on Wednesday to execute Jessie Hoffman Jr., 46, who murdered a woman when he was 18.
• Arizona: It executed murderer and kidnapper Aaron Brian Gunches, 53, on Wednesday with a lethal injection.

This story has been updated to reflect the Florida execution. (Earlier this month, South Carolina executed a man via firing squad.)