Georgia executes intellectually disabled man whose lawyer may have slept during trial

Kenneth Fults was convicted of murdering a woman in her home in 1996. A jury sentenced him to death in 1997.

Mr Fults and several jurors had said that his lawyer was sleeping during the proceedings.

One juror signed a sworn statement eight years after the fact saying “I don’t know if he ever killed anybody, but that n***** got just what should have happened.

“Once he pled guilty, I knew I would vote for the death penalty because that’s what the n***** deserved.”

Georgia’s State Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Mr Fults’ clemency petition earlier this week and yesterday the US Supreme Court declined to issue him with a stay of execution.

His petition described him as “the kid who fell through the cracks”. He was a gang member and grew up with a drug-addicit mother, absent father and abusive stepfather.

The murder was the culmination of a week-long crime spree in which he tried to kill another man with a stolen handgun.

But three of the jurors who voted to give him the death sentence have said they are concerned about the fairness of the punishment as they saw his lawyer sleeping during the sentencing trial.

The Georgia Department of Corrections said he accepted a final prayer and made no statement before death.