[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----ALABAMA

[Rick Halperin]

April 28



ALABAMA----execution

Convicted cop killer executed by lethal injection in Alabama


Mario Centobie had no final statement before his execution Thursday for
the 1998 murder of a Moody police officer.

Centobie, 39, of Biloxi, Miss., was executed at 6:22 p.m. CST. He stared
at the ceiling, never looking toward the witnesses, throughout the
execution process, which took approximately 20 minutes and was carried out
without incident.

The U.S. Supreme Court earlier denied a final appeal by a public defender
to block the execution.

Centobie met until 4:30 p.m. with his mother, 2 brothers and a sister,
Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett said.

Centobie was convicted and sentenced to death for killing Moody police
officer Keith Turner in 1998 while a fugitive from Mississippi.

Centobie becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
Alabama, and the 31st overall since the state resumed capital punishment
in 1983.

Centobie becomes the 18th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
the USA and the 962nd overall since America resumed executions on January
17, 1977.

(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)