US: It was a hot, humid evening in Huntsville on Wednesday when the poisons entered Frances Newton's blood and for the staff at the death house, it was business as usual. At 40, Newton became the first African-American woman to be executed in Texas since the Civil War, convicted of murdering her husband and two children in 1987.
Executions are nothing special in Huntsville, according to John Fuchs, a second World War veteran who lives nearby.
"I don't know how many they've had this year. They have them every month or two," he said.
For the few dozen protesters outside, however, Newton's case was different, a gross miscarriage of justice that highlighted the unfairness of a legal system in which almost everyone on Death Row is either poor or black.
Prosecutors said that Newton killed her family in order to claim $100,000 in life insurance, pointing out that she took out new policies a few months before the murder. She always claimed to be innocent, suggesting that the real culprit was a drug dealer to whom her husband, himself a small-time dealer, owed money.
The main evidence against Newton came from ballistics testing of a gun she hid in the house and gunpowder residue found on her clothing. Appealing her initial conviction, defence lawyers claimed that more than one gun was found at the scene, casting doubt on whether Newton's gun was the murder weapon.
The lawyers said that the substance found on her clothing could have come from household fertiliser but the claim could not be substantiated because the original lab tests had been destroyed.
At her initial trial, Newton was represented by Ron Monk, a state-appointed lawyer who was subsequently disbarred from representing clients in capital trials. Mr Monk admitted during the trial that he had not interviewed a single witness while preparing the case.
Out of 16 people Mr Monk defended on capital charges, 12 ended up on Death Row.
Despite a campaign that included a plea from the president of the American Bar Association, Texas governor Rick Perry refused to halt the execution and a lethal injection was administered at 6.09 pm on Wednesday. Newton was declared dead eight minutes later.
Outside, protesters chanted "Frances, Frances" and "Murder" before singing Amazing Grace.
Don Muller, an insurance broker, said that the Newton case showed that the poor, especially African-Americans, had no chance of achieving justice in America.
"They're not treated fairly. If you don't have any money, you're guilty," he said.
Mr Fuchs had no such qualms, arguing that Newton had been given ample time to appeal and that the case had undergone close scrutiny before the execution.
"If there was new evidence, why did it just come out now, in the last week?" he said.
Ten further executions are scheduled in Texas before the end of this year.