A man convicted of killing his former boss at a traveling carnival nearly two decades ago was put to death last night after having dropped his appeals and asking courts to execute him.
50-year-old Michael Wayne Eggers died at 7:29 p.m. after receiving a lethal injection at a southwest Alabama prison. He was sentenced to death for the murder of his former employer Bennie Francis Murray in 2000. Prosecutors say Eggers admitted to strangling Murray during an argument.
Following disagreements with his attorneys, Eggers fired them and dropped his outstanding appeals in 2016, asking the state of Alabama to quickly schedule his execution. His former attorneys unsuccessfully petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. They argued Eggers suffered from schizophrenia and delusions and was mentally incompetent when he made the decision to fire them.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled at 5:30 p.m. that the execution could proceed. It began about 80 minutes later. Eggers declined to give any last words, replying "No ma'am," when the warden asked. He gave a thumbs-up signal to friends and family as the lethal injection began. The victim's family did not witness the execution.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall issued a statement saying "justice has finally been served tonight for the Murray family."
His former attorney says Eggers was mentally ill and used the death chamber to commit suicide.
