
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 5, 1993                   TAG: 9305050163
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TEXAS KILLER IS 200TH EXECUTED SINCE 1976

Gary Gilmore, Edward R. Byrne Jr., Darryl Stewart. It took 11 years for Byrne to become the 100th convicted murderer to be executed since Gilmore was put to death in 1977. Early Tuesday, Stewart became the 200th.

The pace of executions seems to be increasing. The next was set for as soon as today, when Larry Joe Johnson, 49, was scheduled to go to Florida's electric chair.

It's impossible to say if 1993 will eclipse last year's 31 executions, a record since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. The death penalty has been adopted by 36 states, the military and federal government. Only 21 states have used it.

by CNB