Despite her pleas to let her live, the state Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-1 to deny Wanda clemency.
 
The 1st Black Woman executed in the U.S. since 1954
 
Executed January 11, 2001 in Oklahoma

Allen's last chance for life was erased about 7:30 p.m. Thursday when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene in her case.

A few hours earlier, the same appeal was rejected by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

"Ms. Allen has failed to substantiate her allegation of a due process violation," the Denver judges concluded 3-0, referring to her claim that an assistant attorney general used false evidence against her at her unsuccessful Dec. 15 clemency hearing.

Forty-five minutes after the 10th Circuit's decision, Keating denied a stay of execution.

24 relatives of murder victim Gloria Leathers and manslaughter victim Detra Pettus traveled to McAlester for the execution.

Many of those relatives watched the execution from behind a tinted window.

In the room in front of them, a dozen media representatives and 7 witnesses chosen by Allen viewed the execution through clear glass.

Allen's witnesses included 3 ministers - the Rev. Vernon Burris, her personal spiritual adviser; the Rev. Walter Little, pastor of Oklahoma City's Redeemer Lutheran Church; and the Rev. Robin Meyers, pastor of Oklahoma City's Mayflower Congregational Church.

Just hours after Gov. Frank Keating and the U.S. Supreme Court dashed her final hopes for life, 2-time killer Wanda Jean Allen was strapped to a gurney and injected with lethal drugs tonight. Allen, 41, was pronounced dead at 9:21 p.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.

Her death marked the 1st execution of a woman in Oklahoma since statehood.

She joined a murderer's row of 114 men electrocuted, hung and poisoned by the state since 1915.

"2 families were victimized by Wanda Jean Allen," Attorney General Drew Edmondson told more than 50 reporters and photographers before the execution.

"Our thoughts are with them. They have waited a dozen years for justice in this case."

Allen was condemned to die in the 1988 murder of her lesbian lover, Gloria Leathers, who was shot outside The Village police station.
 

Victims' family members said the execution of
convicted killer Wanda Jean Allen brought them closure as they decried
protesters who fought the nation's first execution of a black woman
since 1954.

Allen, 41, raised her head and smiled, and a tear appeared in the corner
of her eye before she received a lethal dose of drugs Thursday night at
the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. "Father forgive them," she said,
echoing Christ's words as he was crucified. "They know not what they
do."

She was condemned for killing her lesbian lover, Gloria Leathers, whom
she met in prison. She served two years for fatally shooting childhood
friend Dedra Pettus in 1981.

"We're the victims, not Wanda Jean," said Leathers' daughter, LaToya
Leathers. "We are the victims and justice has been served."