Missouri executes convicted killer

POTOSI, Mo. (AP) -- A man was executed by injection early Wednesday for suffocating a woman and her son during a 1988 robbery because he feared the pair would identify him.

Bert Hunter, 53, was apparently the first inmate in Missouri history put to death without a jury trial. When his case came to trial in 1989, Hunter was clinically depressed and suicidal. He pleaded guilty and asked the judge for the death sentence.

His later attempts to seek a new trial were denied. Hours before his death, he said he didn't expect a last-minute reprieve.

''There is no justice,'' Hunter said.