Convicted killer executed

PRISON officials in California executed a three-time murderer early yesterday after his appeal for clemency was denied by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

He was the 11th inmate put to death in California since capital punishment was reinstated in 1977.

Donald Beardslee, aged 61, was executed by injection for killing two women in 1981 while on parole for a third slaying. Officials said Beardslee did not make a final statement.

The execution came only hours after Schwarzenegger rejected a clemency petition seeking to commute the death sentence to life without parole, and the Supreme Court rejected two last-minute appeals.

Beardslee’s lawyers claimed he suffered from brain maladies when he killed Stacey Benjamin, aged 19, and Patty Geddling, aged 23, to avenge a soured $185 drug deal.

The court denied his appeals without comment.