Mississippi executes man for '95 double homicide

A 38-year-old man was put to death Wednesday in Mississippi for killing a store clerk and a customer during a 1995 robbery. Edwin Hart Turner made no last statement before his execution, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported. He was given a lethal injection in the state prison in Parchman and pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m. CST. Turner was convicted of shooting Eddie Brooks, a clerk at the Mims Turkey Village Truck Stop, on Dec. 12, 1995, and Everett Curry, a prison officer who was buying gas there. Opponents of the death penalty held a candlelight vigil in a park in Jackson, the state capital, WDBD-TV in Jackson reported. Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps said he chatted with Turner in a holding cell at Parchman less than 2 hours before his death. The two were waiting to hear if the U.S. Supreme Court would stop the execution. Turner seemed to "be on the ball" and talkative, Epps said. But he did not want to discuss the killings, although Epps asked him several questions.