Virginia inmate executed despite arguments against drug 'cocktail'

[January 19, 2017]    (Reuters) - A Virginia inmate was executed on Wednesday for murdering two young sisters during a 2006 killing spree, after the Supreme Court denied a stay request despite his argument that the use of compounded lethal drugs violated his constitutional rights.

Death row inmate Ricky Gray is shown in this undated photo released in Washington, DC, U.S. in 2016. Virginia Department of Corrections/Handout via REUTERS

Ricky Gray, 39, died by lethal injection at 9:42 p.m. local time at the Greensville Correctional Center, Virginia Department of Corrections spokeswoman Lisa Kinney said in an emailed statement

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.