Mcalester, Okla. (AP) - An Oklahoma death row inmate has been executed for the death of a Tulsa convenience store worker found brutally beaten with a baseball bat almost 16 years ago.
A state Department of Corrections spokesman says Billy Don Alverson was pronounced dead just after 6:00 p.m. Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.
Alverson was convicted of first-degree murder for the Feb. 26, 1995, killing of 30-year-old Richard Yost, who was the night manager of a convenience store in Tulsa. His body was found bound and beaten on the blood-soaked floor of the store's cooler.
Alverson is one of four men convicted in Yost's death.
The Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center says Alverson is the first person to be executed in the U.S. this year.
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