An Oklahoma woman was executed last night, despite questions raised by an FBI review of evidence.
Marilyn Kay Plantz (40) was convicted of hiring her lover and another man to murder her husband, Jim Plantz, in 1988 for $300,000 in life insurance.
She was pronounced dead at 2.11 a.m. (Irish time) four minutes after receiving a lethal injection on Oklahoma's death row in the McAlester state prison, corrections department spokesman Mr Jerry Massie said.
Gov Frank Keating had said on Monday he would not seek to delay the execution despite controversy over evidence presented by an Oklahoma City police chemist whose work was criticised by an FBI report made public last week.
The FBI review alleged that chemist Ms Joyce Gilchrist had misidentified hair and fibres in at least six criminal cases, other than Plantz's, and recommended a review of other cases that used such evidence.
Ms Gilchrist, who has denied the charges, worked for the police lab for 21 years and is now on paid administrative leave.
Gov Keating said there was enough unchallenged evidence in Plantz's case to support her conviction, including testimony by one of the hired killers and her confession.
Plantz was the 41st person executed by Oklahoma since it resumed execution in 1990 and only the second woman to be executed in the state's history.