Texas Carries Out 7th Execution This Year

A man who admitted killing two people and was linked to dozens of rapes in three states was executed by injection early Tuesday.

Samuel Hawkins, 51, confessed to killing 19-year-old Abbe Hamilton with a hunting knife in her home in Borger in May 1977. Hamilton, who was six months pregnant, was stabbed nearly 20 times and nearly decapitated.

It was the seventh execution this year in Texas, which has put 92 people to death since the 1976 Supreme Court decision allowing states to resume using the death penalty. Both totals are the highest in the nation.