Prisoner Executed for Killing Child

A junk dealer who had abducted and shot a 9-year-old girl was executed in Huntsville, Texas, the fourth Texas prisoner put to death this month and the second in two days. James Otto Earhart, 56, was the 20th person executed in Texas this year. Earhart was arrested after authorities found the decomposing body of Kandy Janell Kirtland two weeks after she disappeared from her home in 1987. Her hands were tied behind her back and she had been shot in the head. She had last been seen talking with a huge man with a stubby beard. Earhart weighed more than 400 pounds when he was arrested.