Texas executes inmate after 31 years on death row

After three decades on death row in Texas and seven scheduled executions that were postponed at the last minute, convicted killer Lester Bower was put to death Wednesday for a quadruple murder he always denied.

Bower, 67, was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas at 6:36 pm (23:36 GMT), Texas prisons spokesman Jason Clark said in a statement.

Bower was convicted of murdering four men in an aircraft hangar in Grayson County, Texas in 1983. Prosecutors said he had killed the men after stealing an aircraft from one of the victims.

Attorneys for Bower always denied the claim and said the prosecution was built from circumstantial evidence. Bower went on to become one of Texas's longest-serving death row inmates.

As is customary in Texas executions, prison authorities released a transcript of Bower's final words.

He thanked his attorneys and his family for their support, adding:

"Now it is time to pass on. I have fought the good fight, I held the faith. I am not going to say goodbye, I will simply say until we meet again. I love you very, very much. Thank you warden."

Just hours before his execution was carried out, the US Supreme Court declined a final appeal.

In March, during an earlier appeal, three Supreme Court judges said they would have overturned Bower's death sentence.

Bower's execution is the 15th so far this year in America. Eight of these have been in Texas, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.