USA - Missouri. William Rousan, 57, White, was executed.

William Rousan, 57, White, was executed. Prosecutors say Rousan, his son Brent Rousan and William’s brother Robert Rousan murdered Charlie, 67, and Grace Lewis, 62, on Sept. 21, 1993 as part of a plot to steal two of the couple’s cows. Rousan was sentenced to death for the murder of Grace Lewis and life in prison without parole for the murder of her husband Charles. Authorities said he was the mastermind in the plot. Brent Rousan, who was 16 at the time, is serving life in prison without parole. Robert Rousan served seven years after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay his execution. Rousan's attorneys had argued that Missouri's secrecy around its lethal injection drugs could result in undue suffering for the inmate as he was put to death. Rousan becomes the 4th Missouri inmate to be put to death this year, the 74th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1989, the 18th to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1377th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.