D-O-C starting executions at 9 p-m

(McAlester-AP) -- In an effort to accommodate victims' families, the Department of Corrections will start executing prisoners at 9 p-m rather than midnight. D-O-C spokesman Jerry Massie says families

Thursday, July 13th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(McAlester-AP) -- In an effort to accommodate victims' families, the Department of Corrections will start executing prisoners at 9 p-m rather than midnight. D-O-C spokesman Jerry Massie says families won't be forced now to make long drives home so early in the morning.

Massie says George Kent Wallace will be the first inmate executed at the new time. Wallace is set to die August 10th for the killings of 15-year-old William Von Eric Domer and 14-year-old Mark Anthony McLaughlin.

When Oklahoma resumed executing prisoners in 1990, the midnight time was used to avoid last-minute legal issues and to avoid disturbing prison operations. As executions have become more frequent, the timing has become a concern.

Gregg Francis Braun will be the last prisoner to be executed at midnight. He's scheduled to die July 20th for 1989 murder of Gwendolyn Sue Miller at an Ardmore floral shop. Massie says the time was not changed on Braun's execution because many family members of the victims had already made trave plans.