Three murderers have been put to death by lethal injection in Texas, Ohio and Louisiana, the first executions this year in the US. 

Ohio executed Abdullah Sharif Kaazim Mahdi, 37, the second person to be killed using a single drug that was introduced to prevent botched executions.

Born Vernon Smith, the Muslim convert was pronounced dead at 10.28am local time on Thursday, eight minutes after receiving a dose of thiopental sodium, rather than the three-drug cocktail previously used.

He was sentenced to death for killing a 28-year-old Palestinian father and store owner from Toledo, Ohio.

Texas executed Kenneth Mosley, 51, who was convicted of murdering a white police officer during a botched bank robbery in 1997. Mosley was pronounced dead at 6.16pm local time on Thursday.

It was the first execution of the year in Texas, which holds the country's capital punishment record.

Texas executed 24 men in 2009 and 448 since the Supreme Court allowed states to resume capital punishment in 1976.

Louisiana killed Gerald Bordelon, who was convicted of raping and killing his 12-year-old stepdaughter in 2006. He was pronounced dead at 6.32pm on Thursday, Louisiana's WAFB television channel said.

After his conviction, Bordelon refused to appeal against his sentence so he could have a speedy execution. Death row inmates usually wait at least 10 years before being killed and only one in nine choose the quick path, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre.

Bordelon's was Louisiana's first execution since May 2002 and the 28th since 1976. Eighty-three men are on death row in the state.

In December, Ohio used thiopental sodium to execute murderer Kenneth Biros.

It switched to the new method after a disastrous attempt in September to kill another inmate, Romell Broom.

Executioners tried about 18 times to get the needle into him before giving up.

The new method replaces a three-drug cocktail used in executions in 34 of the 35 other US states where capital punishment is practised.

The Herald Sun