Texas carries out 400th execution in 25 years

Washington - Texas carried out its 400th execution since 1982 Wednesday evening, despite protests from death penalty opponents and the European Union. Johnny Ray Conner, 32, who spent eight years on death row, was put to death by lethal injection. He was convicted in the shooting death of a convenience store owner during a robbery in Houston in 1998. Though he claimed his innocence to the end, his fingerprint was found on a bottle at the scene and he was identified by three witnesses. The European Union, which has banned the death penalty, appealed to Texas Governor Rick Perry to stop the execution and consider a moratorium for the death penalty in the state. The governor's office responded that, "Texans long ago decided that the death penalty is a just and appropriate punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens." "While we respect our friends in Europe... Texans are doing just fine governing Texas," Perry spokesman Robert Black, told the BBC. Texas reinstated the death penalty in 1982 after the Supreme Court lifted a moratorium on it in 1976. Connor was the 21st man put to death by lethal injection in Texas this year and three others are scheduled to be executed this week, according to the Houston Chronicle. "It's a pretty sad day for the progression - or lack thereof - for human rights in this state," said Rick Halperin, president of the non-profit Texas Coalition To Abolish the Death Penalty. He called the state-ordered executions "barbaric and outdated." The US has executed more than 1,090 prisoners since 1976, according to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center.