VARNER, Ark. (AP) -- A former nurse who asked for the death sentence after smothering her two young children said, "I love you, my babies" as she was executed by injection.
Christina Marie Riggs, 28, was the fifth woman executed in the United States since the Supreme Court lifted a ban on capital punishment in 1976. It was Arkansas' first execution of a woman in more than 150 years.Riggs had maintained that she wanted to die and her last words reflected her grief.
"There is no way no words can express how sorry I am for taking the lives of my babies," she said Tuesday night. "Now I can be with my babies, as I always intended."
She had withdrawn all appeals and chose not to seek clemency from Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Riggs' lawyer, John Wesley Hall Jr., Wednesday criticized her execution as a state-assisted suicide.
Riggs said she intended to use potassium chloride -- the same heart-stopping drug used in executions -- to kill herself and her children, 5-year-old Justin and 2-year-old Shelby Alexis, in 1997.
She gave the children an antidepressant in hopes it would make them drowsy, then injected Justin with the potassium chloride but did not administer it properly.
When Justin began crying, Riggs told police, she injected him with morphine left over from a hospital patient and smothered both children. Riggs then took 28 antidepressant tablets and injected herself with potassium chloride, intending to commit suicide.
The children were found dead in Riggs' bed.