A death row prisoner convicted of killing his former lover and her husband has been executed in Missouri – the state’s second execution and the nation’s seventh this year.

The 69-year-old, who had always maintained his innocence, said in his final statement: “I leave you all with love. Now I get to go to heaven. Don’t cry for me. Just join me when your time comes.”

He was pronounced dead at 6.11pm on Tuesday following a single-dose injection of the sedative pentobarbital at the state prison in Bonne Terre.

His final meal, served that morning, was a New York strip steak, a baked potato with butter and sour cream, Texas toast, Dutch apple pie and orange juice and milk, Sky’s US partner NBC News reported – citing Missouri Department of Corrections.

Hosier was convicted of the 2009 killings of Angela and Rodney Gilpin in the state capital of Jefferson City.

The pair were fatally shot near the doorway to their apartment.

Investigators said Hosier had been in a romantic relationship with Angela Gilpin and was angry when she ended it and reconciled with her husband.

They said Hosier had threatened to harm her in the days before the killings.

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After the shootings, police found an application for a protective order in Angela Gilpin’s purse, and another document in which she expressed her fears that Hosier might shoot her and her husband.

Hosier was an immediate suspect and officers tracked him down in Oklahoma after a police car chase and found 15 guns, a bulletproof vest, 400 rounds of ammunition and other weapons in his car, according to court documents.

The weapons included a submachine gun made from a kit that investigators said was used in the shootings, though tests on it were inconclusive.

Hosier insisted he was innocent and should not have been convicted on circumstantial evidence.

Governor Mike Parson – a Republican and former county sheriff who has overseen 10 executions since taking office in 2018 – turned down Hosier’s request for clemency on Monday, citing his “lack of remorse”.

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