An Arizona death row inmate convicted of strangling a 74-year-old man and fleeing in the victim's new Cadillac more than three decades ago was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday, the state's attorney general said.
Edward Harold Schad, 71, was pronounced dead at 10:12 a.m. local time at the state prison in Florence, Arizona, Attorney General Tom Horne said.
The execution comes on the same day that Texas is scheduled to put to death 43-year-old Michael Yowell, who was convicted of killing his parents and blowing up their house.
Schad becomes the first person executed in Arizona in 2013 and Yowell would be the 14th to be executed in Texas. Overall, 28 people have been executed in the United States this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Like Arizona, Texas intends to carry out the lethal injections using Phenobarbital, a barbiturate commonly used in executions. The drug has become scarce as major manufacturers have refused to supply it for that purpose.
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