TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — A man who killed a Kansas girl more than two decades ago has been executed in Indiana, the fifth federal inmate put to death this year and second this week.
Keith Nelson received a lethal injection Friday at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, after a higher court tossed a ruling that would have required the government to get a prescription for the drug used to kill him. Questions about whether the drug pentobarbital causes pain prior to death had been a focus of appeals.
Nelson grabbed 10-year-old Pamela Butler off the street on Oct. 12, 1999, as part of a plan to find a female to rape and kill.
