Man Cuomo Tried To Save Is Executed

A two-time killer who was at the center of a tug-of-war between former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and Oklahoma’s governor was executed early this morning.

In 1993, then-Oklahoma Gov. David Walters lost a court battle with Cuomo over whether the killer should be put to death in Oklahoma or forced to serve a 20-years-to-life sentence in New York first.

Grasso said he wanted to die rather than linger in prison.

Republican George Pataki vowed during his successful campaign against Cuomo last year that he would send Grasso back to Oklahoma and reinstate the death penalty. Within days of taking office, Pataki ordered Grasso transferred to Oklahoma.

Grasso was convicted in New York of strangling 81-year-old Leslie Holtz in July 1991. He then confessed to killing 87-year-old Hilda Johnson of Tulsa on Christmas Eve 1990.

Grasso, 32, asked to be executed for the Oklahoma murder. But Cuomo, a death penalty opponent, fought to have Grasso first serve his New York sentence.