Donald Wackerly was executed by the State of Oklahoma for the murder of Pan Sayakhoummane
According to court documents Pan Sayakhoummane was fishing off of a bank when Donald Wackerly would shoot him causing his death before stealing his possessions
Donald Wackerly would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Donald Wackerly would be executed by lethal injection on October 14 2010
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When Was Donald Wackerly Executed
Donald Wackerly was executed on October 14 2010
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Killer Donald Ray Wackerly went to his death chanting a Buddhist mantra Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.
Wackerly, 40, was executed for the 1996 shooting death of Laotian immigrant Pan Sayakhoummane.
Convicted in 1998, Wackerly maintained his innocence to the end.
His last words consisted of a mantra – “Om mani padme hum” – chanted along with two Buddhist monks who were in the witness room, separated from the death chamber by a plate glass window. The chant is described as the Buddhist “mantra of compassion.”
Prison officials believe that it was the first execution in state history accompanied by Buddhist religious elements.
Wackerly smiled and nodded to the monks and five other witnesses who attended on his behalf. He also blinked several times in apparent recognition.
Among the most compelling evidence against Wackerly in Sayakhoummane’s murder was testimony that he pawned fishing gear belonging to the victim several weeks after the man’s death. Sayakhoummane had been fishing in the Arkansas River in Sequoyah County when he stopped to help what he thought was a stranded motorist. Prosecutors said the motorist was Wackerly, who feigned trouble with his Jeep to ambush and rob passers-by. Sayakhoummane was shot eight times and was left in his partially submerged truck.
Wackerly admitted to having a severe drug addiction at the time of the murder but claimed that he was framed for the killing by his wife. Sayakhoummane’s family did not comment after the execution.
Wackerly’s sisters, Donna Lomax and Dianna Davis, issued a joint statement. “We would like to thank our family and friends for their support of us, as well as Donnie, over the years,” they said. Donnie loved his family dearly, and we certainly love him. We will miss our brother very much and pray he is in a better place. The Sayakhoummane family will be forever in our hearts and our prayers.”
Wackerly’s execution was embroiled in controversies regarding one of the drugs to be administered and by his attempt to have his spiritual adviser present in the death chamber. He unsuccessfully sought a stay of execution, with his lawyer arguing that the execution would not be properly carried out if the one available dose of the sedative sodium thiopental was not properly administered.
On Wednesday, prison officials and Wackerly’s lawyer agreed to an arrangement by which the religious leaders were allowed access to the body immediately after the execution.
The next death-row inmate slated for execution is John David Duty, convicted in 2001 for the murder of Curtis Wise. No date has been set.
