USA - Georgia. Gregory Paul Lawler, 63, White, has been executed

Gregory Paul Lawler, 63, White, has been executed with a fatal dose of the sedative pentobarbital. Lawler was convicted of murdering John Sowa, a 28-year-old policeman, and wounding Sowa's partner, Pat Cocciolone, on Oct. 12, 1997, just moments after the 2 officers walked Lawler's intoxicated girlfriend to the front door of the apartment they shared. Lawler becomes the 7th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Georgia, and the 67th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983. The 7th execution in Georgia is the most carried out in a single year in that state since the death penalty was re-instated by the US Supreme Court on July 2, 1976. Lawler becomes the 17th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1439th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.