Karla Faye Tucker (38) was executed by lethal injection early this morning (Irish time) in Huntsville, Texas. The execution, timed for midnight, was delayed for 45 minutes until last-minute appeals to the Supreme Court were rejected.
In her last statement as she was strapped to the gurney, Tucker addressed her family and the family of the victims of the double murder for which she was convicted 14 years ago. She asked Mr Richard Thornton, husband of one of the victims, for forgiveness and told her own husband, Mr Dana Brown, who was also watching from behind a window, that she loved him. She then said: "I'm going to go face to face with Jesus."
Mr Thornton who was in a wheelchair was overheard saying: "Here she comes, baby doll. She's all yours" and "the world's a better place".
Witnesses said Tucker coughed twice as the lethal drugs flowed into her and gave a soft groan. She was pronounced dead eight minutes later.
Tension grew among the large crowd outside the prison as the scheduled time passed, but a cheer came from some of the demonstrators when it was reported that the execution was going ahead.
Those protesting against the execution sang hymns and prayed while they held candles. Tucker had become a born-again Christian on death row.
The Irish Government's appeal for a stay of execution was among the numerous appeals received from abroad. The Pope, the UN and the European Parliament also made appeals for clemency.
But her hopes of a stay of execution all but disappeared when the Supreme Court in Washington rejected her appeal that the Texas clemency system was flawed and unconstitutional. Tucker's lawyers immediately lodged two further appeals but they were also rejected by seven of the nine justices.
Meanwhile, Governor Bush appeared on television to announce that having prayed about the matter, he had decided not to delay the execution for 30 days and would let it go ahead.
There was a huge media presence outside the prison for the first execution of a woman in Texas since 1863. Tucker is the second woman to be executed in the US since 1976 when the Supreme Court ruled that executions which had been suspended in 1972, could resume.
Earlier yesterday, Tucker said her last goodbye to her husband whom she had married in prison, but they were not allowed to touch. Governor refused to postpone execution; Tucker's final hours; photograph: page 12