The Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho — Idaho has executed a convicted murderer in the U.S. state’s first capital punishment in 17 years.
Paul Ezra Rhoades was declared dead Friday morning. He died by lethal injection.
Rhoades was convicted in the 1987 kidnapping and murders of 34-year-old Susan Michelbacher and 21-year-old Stacy Dawn Baldwin.
The execution of the 54-year-old was the first in Idaho since 1994.
Rhoades acknowledged killing the women but appealed Idaho’s execution protocol. The U.S. Supreme Court denied the appeal Thursday.
Thirty-four U.S. states have the death penalty, according to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center.