A man sentenced for two murders was killed in South Carolina by lethal injection.
Stephen Stanko, 57, was declared deceased at 6:34 p.m. local time on Friday, June 13, as per a statement issued by the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC). Stanko was sentenced to die for offenses committed in April 2005 in Horry and Georgetown counties, according to the statement.
On April 8, 2005, Stanko “bound, assaulted, and strangled his girlfriend, Laura Ling, to death while simultaneously beating and raping her minor daughter in their residence in Murrells Inlet,” the statement added.
Stanko thereafter proceeded to the residence of his acquaintance, 74-year-old Henry Lee Turner, where he fatally shot the individual before absconding with his vehicle. Stanko absconded and was apprehended several days later in Georgia, according to the SCDC.
In 2006, Stanko was convicted in Georgetown County of first-degree murder for Ling’s death, along with charges of abduction and armed robbery. He was further convicted of abduction, first-degree criminal sexual behavior, and assault and battery with intent to murder concerning Ling’s adolescent daughter, according to the statement.
In 2009, he was subsequently convicted in Horry County for the murder and armed robbery associated with Turner’s death. He received a death sentence for both murders, according to the SCDC.
Stanko’s concluding speech was spoken by his counsel before to his execution. In his remark, released to the public by the SCDC, he expressed remorse to the victims’ families.
I sincerely apologize for the suffering and loss I inflicted in this distressing circumstance. Apologies are often insufficient; nonetheless, it does not exclude their expression. Not a single day—NOT ONE DAY—has elapsed without Christina, Laura, and Henry occupying my thoughts and prayers. The statement stated, “If my execution facilitates closure and/or the grieving process, may they all proceed with that being accomplished.”
Stanko said that he included more than his beliefs, adding that he was once a “honor student and an athlete,” and that he also engaged in voluntary work at an orphanage and served as a coach.
“I do not express this to boast.” “I express this because I am not the person that others perceive me to be at present,” he said.
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During his execution, Stanko received two doses of the potent sedative pentobarbital, as reported by The Associated Press.
An Associated Press writer present at the execution said that Stanko seemed to utter something inaudible after the administration of the medication. He thereafter faced the victims’ family members present and exhaled several rapid breaths before succumbing. He was declared dead around 28 minutes after the commencement of the execution, according to the source.
Stanko’s execution constituted the sixth in South Carolina over a span of nine months. Stanko allegedly contemplated death by firing squad but opted for lethal injection due to apprehensions that volunteers had failed to strike the prisoner’s heart in a prior firing squad execution, perhaps extending his agony, according to the AP.
Stanko ordered fried fish, fried shrimp, crab cake, baked potato, carrots, fried okra, cherry pie, banana pudding, and sweet tea for his last dinner, according to the SCDC.
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