Texan who killed at 17 is executed despite protests

Napoleon Beazley was executed last night for committing a murder while aged 17 after the US Supreme Court refused to spare his life.

When asked by the warden if he had a final statement, Beazley looked at Suzanne Luttig, the daughter of the victim, and said "no" before he was given a lethal injection.

Beazley was convicted of killing the father of a federal judge during a 1994 carjacking. He repeatedly expressed remorse for shooting John Luttig, 63, while trying to steal the man's Mercedes.

"It's my fault," Beazley said during a hearing last month. "I violated the law. I violated this city, and I violated a family – all to satisfy my own misguided emotions. I'm sorry. I wish I had a second chance to make up for it, but I don't."

Texas is one of five states that allow the death penalty for crimes committed by 17-year-olds. Before Beazley's death, 18 inmates in the United States – including 10 in Texas – had been executed since 1976 for a murder committed when the killer was younger than 18.

Sue Gunawardena-Vaught, director of Amnesty International USA's Programme to Abolish the Death Penalty, said: "Texas must recognise that the brutal practice of executing children is in complete and utter defiance of international law.

In Austin, about 100 death penalty opponents rallied at the governor's mansion to protest against Beazley's execution. Earlier, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 10-7 against recommending Beazley's sentence be commuted to life in prison and 13-4 against a reprieve.

Beazley's lawyers made a last-ditch appeal to the US Supreme Court, renewing questions about his age and challenging the makeup of the all-white jury that convicted their black client. The court turned down the appeal, and Governor Rick Perry denied his request for a 30-day reprieve. "To delay his punishment would be to delay justice," said Mr Perry.

Luttig was the father of J Michael Luttig, a judge on the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

At the time of the slaying, Beazley was a popular student and athlete in Grapeland, where he had also been dealing drugs for several years.