Oklahoma executed a confessed child murderer for the beating death...

Oklahoma executed a confessed child murderer for the beating death of his 13-month-old daughter. James Patrick Malicoat, 31, was condemned for beating Tessa Leadford to death on February 21, 1997 while the girl's mother was at work.
Malicoat was pronounced dead at 6:09 p.m.
Malicoat admitted slamming Leadford's head into a dresser a few days before she died and punching her in the stomach so hard she stopped breathing on the day of her death.
Investigators said the extensive bruising on Tessa Leadford's body, bite marks and 2 broken ribs indicated she had been abused repeatedly for days prior to her death.
The girl’s mother, Mary Ann Leadford, was convicted of 1st-degree murder for her role in her daughter's death and is serving a life sentence.
Malicoat becomes the 4th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Oklahoma, the 41st in the USA and the 1045th since the nation resumed executions on Januaryt 17, 1977.