US man executed for Arizona murder

A 47-year-old man was put to death on Thursday in the US state of Arizona for murdering a philanthropist by injecting him with battery acid and then strangling him, prison authorities said.

Robert Towery, who had spent nearly two decades on death row, was executed by lethal injection at the prison complex in Florence, outside Phoenix, authorities said.

Towery was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1991 killing of the 69-year-old area philanthropist, whom he had met previously, during a robbery that turned to murder.

Towery and an accomplice threatened the victim with a weapon and then tied him up while they robbed the house. Towery then injected the victim with battery acid and strangled him, according to prison documents.

The body of the victim was found the next day and the two suspects arrested. Towery's accomplice made a plea deal -- in exchange for testifying against Towery, the accomplice served a 10-year sentence and has been released.

The execution was the eighth of the year in the United States, and the second in 10 days in Arizona.

The southwestern US state has put 30 inmates to death since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.