US: Missouri executes black man sentenced by all-white jury

Washington: The Midwestern US state of Missouri executed a black man Tuesday who had been sentenced to death by an all-white jury, despite numerous protests claiming the penalty smacked of racism.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon denied clemency to Andre Cole and the US Supreme Court denied a stay of execution.

Cole, 42, was accused of stabbing and killing Anthony Curtis, a friend of his ex-wife, in 1998.

He had also stabbed his ex-wife repeatedly because she took him to court over child support payments he owed to her, but she survived.

A jury of 12 white people found him guilty, after three black jurors were dismissed.

Cole, who spent 14 years on death row, was pronounced dead at 10:24 pm (0324 GMT) in Bonne Terre, Missouri, Department of Corrections spokesman Mike O`Connell said.

Up until the last minute, Cole`s lawyers, along with civil rights and human rights advocates, religious leaders and activists, petitioned and made pleas for a retrial.

Cole`s execution was the 12th this year in the United States, and the third in Missouri, one of the most active death penalty states after Texas.