Texas executes its 1st inmate using single drug

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Texas has executed its first prisoner under a lethal injection procedure that uses one drug instead of three.

Yokamon Hearn was sentenced to death in the 1998 carjacking and slaying of a suburban Dallas stockbroker. The 33-year-old Hearn's execution Wednesday was the state's first using a single dose of the sedative pentobarbital.

Texas prison officials last week announced they were modifying the three-drug method they've used since 1982.

Hearn's execution came about 3½ hours after the U.S. Supreme Court refused appeals from his attorneys.

Hearn was convicted in the killing of 23-year-old Frank Meziere, who was slain after being abducted from a Dallas car wash.

Hearn showed no apparent unusual reaction to the drug as his execution began. He was pronounced dead at 6:37 p.m.