U.S. executes Oklahoma prisoner

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States on Thursday executed an Oklahoma prisoner convicted of murdering a three-year-old boy, while an Alabama prisoner was set to receive a lethal injection later in the day.

Richard Fairchild, 63, was killed by lethal injection Thursday morning in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

Sentenced to death 26 years ago for burning, beating, and killing his girlfriend’s son, Fairchild was the seventh inmate to be executed since the state resumed capital punishment in October 2021 after a six-year pause due to a series of botched executions.

The executions will bring to four the number of inmates executed in two days, after prisoners received lethal injections in Arizona and Texas on Wednesday night.