Soldier Executed for shotgun slaying

Soldier Executed for shotgun slaying

Steriods cited in Killing
  
Oklahoma – A former U.S. soldier who said steroids turned him into a killer was executed Tuesday evening for the 1991 murder of a convenience store clerk during a botched robbery attempt.

Michael L. Pennington, 37, who changed his name to Sharieff Sallahdin after converting to Islam at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, was given a lethal injection and pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m., corrections officials said.

Pennington’s only comment was, “No statement.” He then mouthed the words “I love you” to two family members who witnessed his execution.

None of the victim’s relatives were there.

The former weightlifter and body builder was convicted in 1993 of murdering Bradley Thomas Grooms, 20, during a robbery attempt at a Lawton convenience store.

Pennington, who was stationed at nearby Fort Sill, shot Grooms once in the back with a sawed-off shotgun, then left the store empty-handed because he couldn’t open the register.

Police tracked Pennington to his wife’s house in Akron, Ohio, where he was arrested.

Pennington said that anabolic steroids, which he took to enhance his weightlifting and body building regimen, altered his normal behavior and transformed him from a disciplined soldier into a fleeing killer.