2nd Killer Executed in Texas in 48 Hours

HUNTSVILLE, Tex. —  A man convicted of killing a convenience store clerk during a $25 holdup was executed early Friday as his victim’s widow waited across the street to make certain the sentence was carried out.

Larry Smith, 30, was the second condemned man to die by injection in Texas in 48 hours, and a third man is scheduled to die next week.

Smith was put to death for the 1978 robbery-slaying of Mike Mason, 26, who was shot in the back of the head after he said he could not open a safe at the store where he worked in Dallas during the holdup.

Mason’s widow said she came to Huntsville, about 150 miles from her home in Mesquite, because she had endured Smith’s two trials and three execution dates.