(Newser)
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South Dakota executed a prisoner last night for the first time since 1947. Officials administered a lethal injection to convicted murderer Elijah Page, who had pleaded guilty in 2001 to torturing and killing a 19-year-old acquaintance the year before, the Argus Leader reports. One of his two co-defendants remains on death row; the second received a life sentence.
"Elijah Page had the ultimate penalty for the ultimate crime, and for that I'm proud of the state, the attorney general, the governor and everyone at the state penitentiary for doing a job well done," said victim Chester Allan Poage's mother. About 100 protesters and 10 death-penalty supporters demonstrated outside the Sioux Falls prison as the sentence was carried out.
