1st Death Row Prisoner Executed By Lethal Injection Under Donald Trump

The last words of Terry Edwards, 43 who was killed by lethal injection in Texas for a double murder - were: "Yes, I made peace with God. I hope y'all make peace with this"

The first Death Row prisoner under Donald Trump's presidency has been executed this morning - despite last minute appeals he did not pull the trigger.

Terry Edwards, 43 - aka the Subway Murderer - was killed by lethal injection in Texas at 10:17pm (04:17am UK time).

The inmate was executed for killing two sandwich shop employees during a robbery in 2002 after the Supreme Court denied a stay requests.

Terry's lawyers argued both that he was not the trigger man and that his case was tainted by prosecutorial misconduct - in arguments that held up the execution by four hours.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark confirmed in a statement this morning that he died at the state's death chamber in Huntsville

The statement said that Terry's last words were: "Yes, I made peace with God. I hope y'all make peace with this."

The execution was put on hold for about four hours as the Supreme Court considered several motions citing what lawyers for Edwards said were faults in previous legal proceedings.

The court rejected those requests late on Thursday evening Texas time.

The execution was the 540th in Texas since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the most of any state. 

Edwards was convicted along with co-defendant Kirk Edwards, an older cousin, of the July 2002 murders of Dallas Subway sandwich shop employees Mickell Goodwin and Tommy Walker in a robbery.