Oklahoma executes man for 1993 killing of 3-year-old boy

By SEAN MURPHY
Associated Press

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma has executed a man for the torture killing of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old son in 1993. Richard Stephen Fairchild received a lethal injection Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Attorneys for the 63-year-old had argued that Fairchild was abused as a child, was mentally ill and was remorseful for his actions. But the state’s five-member Pardon and Parole Board rejected his request for clemency last month on a 4-1 vote. Prosecutors say Fairchild began beating 3-year-old Adam Broomhall after he wet the bed, burning him by holding him against a scorching furnace and then throwing him into a table, killing him.