Oklahoma executed Michael Dwayne Smith on Thursday, April 4, 2024, ending the life of a man who confessed to three murders in a violent rampage fueled by gang retaliation. He was pronounced dead at 10:20 a. m.
at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
Smith, 41, spent more than 21 years on death row after being convicted of the 2002 murders of 41-year-old Janet Denise Miller Moore and 22-year-old Sarath Babu Puluru. He also pleaded guilty to the 2001 shooting death of Otis Payne Jr.
His execution was the first in Oklahoma in 2024 and the 12th since the state resumed capital punishment in 2021 after a six-year moratorium. The lethal injection process began at 10:08 a. m.
with the sedative midazolam.
Prison officials reported that Smith’s body shook briefly and he attempted to lift his head before relaxing. He then took a series of short, audible breaths resembling snores or gasps.
A masked doctor declared him unconscious at 10:14 a. m. , and he was pronounced dead six minutes later.
When asked for final words, Smith replied, “Nah, I’m good.” He then turned to his spiritual adviser, Reverend Jeff Hood, and quietly expressed love for his family, though the microphone was off and witnesses could not hear.
Reverend Hood later said he saw a single tear fall from Smith’s right eye after he appeared to be gone.
Hood called the execution unnecessary, stating Oklahoma would be no safer and only less ethical.
Smith’s crimes began long before the day of the double murder. He was born June 24, 1982, in Oklahoma and grew up in a neighborhood rife with gang violence and drugs.
His father was abusive, and his parents separated when he was two.
By age seven or eight, Smith was sexually abused by an older woman, a trauma he never addressed. He lost his father at ten and turned to PCP, a hallucinogen, as an escape.
He joined the Oak Grove Posse, a violent subset of the Oklahoma City Crips, at 18.
In a phone interview before his execution, Smith expressed regret, saying he could have earned a sports scholarship but instead chose gang life. He called it the biggest regret of his life.
The violence escalated in November 2001. On November 8, three other gang members attempted to rob two convenience stores. One of them, Terron Armstrong, was killed by a store owner in self-defense.
Smith, enraged, decided to retaliate.
On November 24, 2001, Smith handed a gun to his accomplice David Burns, and both men opened fire inside an SUV outside a nightclub. The attack killed 26-year-old Otis Payne Jr.
and wounded Melvin Moore. Smith fled and evaded capture for three months.
On February 22, 2002, Smith enacted his murderous plan.
He believed a man named Philip Zachary Jr. was feeding information to police. He went to Zachary’s apartment but found his mother, Janet Moore, instead.
She screamed, and Smith shot her once in the chest.
“She panicked, that she wouldn’t stop screaming, and so he shot her once in the chest,” is how Smith later described the killing. He wiped down the apartment for fingerprints and later shrugged when he learned the victim’s identity, simply saying, “Oh well.”
Just an hour later, Smith walked into the AZ Food Mart in South Oklahoma City, believing an employee had disrespected his gang in the press. He found Sarath Puluru, a 22-year-old Indian college student who was filling in for a friend.
Sarath was not the target.
He begged Smith, asking what he had done wrong. Smith did not answer. He emptied two guns into Sarath’s body, firing nine bullets.
After the victim fell, Smith doused the body in lighter fluid, set the store on fire, and grabbed cash from the register.
That night, Smith confessed to his roommate, Marcus Barry, and to a female acquaintance, Sheena Johnson. He told Johnson that Janet Moore “wouldn’t shut up, so he shot her.”
He also described setting the store on fire, details only the killer could know.
Police arrested Smith on February 24, 2002, for the nightclub murder. During questioning, detectives also asked about the double murder.
Smith initially denied involvement but eventually broke down and gave a detailed videotaped confession.
He admitted to both killings, describing how he shot Janet Moore to silence her and how he executed Sarath Puluru to avenge Terron Armstrong. The confession was coherent and devastating, and it was used as key evidence at trial.
Smith’s first trial ended in a mistrial due to procedural errors. A second trial began August 28, 2003. The prosecution presented overwhelming evidence, including testimony from Sheena Johnson and Marcus Barry, and the videotaped confession.
The defense argued Smith was high on PCP and that his confession was involuntary. But investigators described him as “very cocky and extremely verbal” during the interview, fully aware of his statements and consequences.
On September 11, 2003, the jury found Smith guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, plus robbery, burglary, and arson.
Nine days later, the same jury recommended the death penalty for each murder conviction plus 85 years for the lesser charges.
On October 14, 2003, Oklahoma County District Judge Twyla Mason Gray sentenced Smith to death. She called the victims “hard-working individuals who did not deserve to be murdered” and said the penalty was appropriate given the brutality.
In March 2004, Smith was also convicted of second-degree murder for the killing of Otis Payne Jr. He received a life sentence, to run consecutively with the death sentences. His accomplice, David Burns, was sentenced to 25 years for second-degree murder.
Over the next two decades, Smith exhausted appeals. He claimed intellectual disability, citing IQ scores between 71 and 79. But courts ruled the scores fell above the legal threshold.
By March 2017, he was eligible for execution.
While on death row, Smith remained connected to gang members and was caught with weapons in his cell in 2019. Prosecutors argued he remained a continuing threat.
His execution was originally set for July 6, 2023, but later rescheduled to April 4, 2024.
On March 6, 2024, Smith appeared before the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board. He wept and apologized for 15 minutes but also maintained his innocence.
“I didn’t commit these crimes,” he said. “I was high on drugs. I don’t even remember getting arrested.”
His attorney, Mark Henrikson, argued that Smith was intellectually disabled and that his confession was made in a PCP-induced haze. He claimed trial witnesses had been coerced. The prosecution countered with the detailed videotaped confession and multiple witness accounts.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond called Smith a “ruthless killer” who had confessed multiple times. He noted Smith was among just 10% of death row inmates who killed multiple victims. Families of the victims asked the board to deny clemency.
Sarath Puluru’s brother, Harish, submitted a written statement. He described how Sarath was the first in their family to come to America, how he inspired Harish to become a doctor, and how his parents live with pain every day. He asked for justice to be served.
The board voted 4-1 to deny clemency. In the final days, Smith’s attorneys filed emergency appeals with the state and U. S.
Supreme Court. All were denied. The execution proceeded as planned.
Smith declined a last meal the night before. Reverend Hood said Smith was tearful in the final minutes. The execution team leader asked for final words, and Smith gave the brief reply.
After the execution, Attorney General Drummond read statements from the victims’ families. Janet Moore’s family offered a prayer of gratitude, saying justice had been served. Sarath Puluru’s family spoke of the devastation and said he would forever live in their hearts.
Drummond reflected on the victims, calling Janet Moore a rock for her family and Sarath a bright young man with a generous spirit. He noted the cruel irony that neither was intended target and that both were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Not everyone agreed.
Reverend Don Heath, chair of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said Smith was a troubled and vulnerable young man with intellectual disabilities who was failed by the system. He criticized Smith’s legal advisers for urging him to proclaim innocence instead of accepting responsibility.
“Michael Smith has a painful story,” Heath said.
“A 10-year-old boy with borderline intellectual disability loses his father, gets strung out habitually on PCP, and joins a gang with tragic results when he is 19. We all stand in need of mercy, and Smith has gotten precious little.”
In the witness room, Janet Moore’s son, Philip Zachary Jr.
, and her niece, Morgan Miller Perkins, watched through one-way glass. They had waited 22 years. Janet Moore’s family honored her memory, saying her deeds would continue to live on.
Smith’s death marks the end of a violent chapter that began with three murders in a span of four months. He was a 19-year-old gang member who left a trail of bodies across Oklahoma City. Two of those killings happened on the same day, targeting people who had done nothing wrong.
Michael Dwayne Smith, known on the streets as “Hoover Killer” or “HK,” was the first person executed in Oklahoma in 2024. His story is one of violence, loss, and choices that cannot be undone. Three families will carry their grief forever.
The execution was conducted without reported complications, a contrast to Oklahoma’s history of botched lethal injections that led to a six-year moratorium. The state now has 25 more inmates on death row with warrants issued.
As the state moves forward, the debate over capital punishment continues.
Smith’s case highlights issues of intellectual disability, gang violence, and the finality of the death penalty. For now, justice has been served in the eyes of the law.
In a final interview before his execution, Smith reflected on his life.
He said he regretted his choices and wished he had pursued a different path. But the damage was done. Three people are gone forever, and their families survive with the loss.
Janet Moore’s niece said after the execution that they prayed for Smith’s soul even as they sought justice. Sarath’s brother Harish said he hopes no other family has to endure such pain. The cycle of violence may have ended, but its scars remain.
Oklahoma officials have defended the execution as a lawful and necessary act. Attorney General Drummond stated, “I am grateful that justice has been served.” The families of the victims expressed gratitude that the long legal process finally reached its conclusion.
As the sun set on April 4, 2024, the Oklahoma State Penitentiary returned to routine. The death chamber was cleaned. The prisoner logs were updated.
And Michael Dwayne Smith became a footnote in the ongoing history of capital punishment in America.
His final words, “Nah, I’m good,” will be remembered as a brief, stoic end to a violent life. For the families of Janet Moore and Sarath Puluru, the closure is bittersweet.
They have lost a mother and a son, and no execution can bring them back.
The United States executed four people in 2024 as of April. Oklahoma’s resumption of executions places it among the most active states.
The case of Michael Dwayne Smith will likely be cited in legal debates for years to come.
Authorities confirmed that Smith’s body was taken for autopsy as per standard procedure. Reverend Hood said Smith’s last tear was a symbol of the humanity that the state tried to erase.
But for the victims’ families, the tear meant little compared to the tears they have shed for two decades.
This is the story of three murders and one execution. It is a story of a broken childhood, gang loyalty, mistaken identity, and a legal system that ultimately chose death.
What do you think? Has justice been served? The question lingers.