PHOENIX, April 25 (Reuters) – A defiant killer who asked for
no mercy, shunned a clemency hearing and railed against
immigrants in his 1993 sentencing was put to death on Wednesday
for kidnapping and killing a Hispanic community college student,
officials said.
Thomas Kemp, 63, was pronounced dead at 10:08 a.m. local
time at the state prison in Florence, about 60 miles southeast
of Phoenix, a state official said.
Kemp, who acted with an accomplice, was sentenced to death
in 1993 for snatching Hector Soto Juarez from outside his Tucson
apartment, taking him to a mine northwest of the city and
forcing him to disrobe. Juarez was shot fatally in the head.
Kemp, who waived a clemency hearing, was the third man put
to death in the state this year. He was also the 16th person
executed in the United States this year, according to the Death
Penalty Information Center.
(Reporting by David Schwartz; Editing by Tim Gaynor and Cynthia
Johnston)
