Former soldier executed for murder

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) _ A former U.S. soldier and in-prison convert to Islam was executed Tuesday evening for the 1991 murder of a convenience store clerk. <br/><br/>Michael L. Pennington, 37, who changed

Monday, July 18th 2005, 2:51 pm

By: News On 6

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) _ A former U.S. soldier and in-prison convert to Islam was executed Tuesday evening for the 1991 murder of a convenience store clerk.

Michael L. Pennington, 37, who changed his name to Sharieff Sallahdin while at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, received a lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m., corrections officials said.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals rejected a stay request filed this past week. The U.S. Supreme Court also declined to stop the execution.

Shortly before 6 p.m., the 5-foot-7 man was strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber.

Pennington's only comment was, ``No statement.''

He then mouthed the words ``I love you,'' to two family member who witnessed his execution.

None of the victim's relatives attended the execution.

The former weightlifter and body builder was convicted in 1993 of the murder of clerk Bradley Thomas Grooms, 20, during a robbery attempt in Lawton on Oct. 21, 1991.

Pennington, who was stationed at nearby Fort Sill, shot Grooms once in the back with a sawed-off, 12-gauge shotgun. After killing Grooms, Pennington fired several times into a cash register and throughout the store.

Despite killing Grooms and using all his ammunition, Pennington left the store empty-handed when the register failed to open. Police tracked Pennington to his wife's house in Akron, Ohio, where he was arrested.

Pennington has argued in court that the murder was a psychotic consequence of his steroid use. He said in appeals of the death sentence that the anabolic steroids, taken to enhance his weightlifting and body building regimen, altered his normal behavior and transformed him from a disciplined soldier into a fleeing killer.

For his final meal, he requested a small vegetarian pizza, a large garden salad with Italian dressing, a hot fudge sundae, a bag of Oreo cookies and a pint of milk.

The next execution in Oklahoma is scheduled for Aug. 11. Kenneth Eugene Turrentine, 52, is scheduled to die that day for a Tulsa County killing spree.

Turrentine was convicted of the June 4, 1994, slayings of his sister, Avon Stevenson, his girlfriend, Anita Louise Richardson, and Richardson's children, Tina L. Pennington, 22, and Martise D. Richardson, 13.

Turrentine shot Stevenson at her home and Richardson and her children at their residence, both in northeast Tulsa. Turrentine suspected that Richardson, 39, was having an affair, and that Stevenson, 48, knew about it, authorities said.