Nation : Killer, Elvis Impersonator, Executed

HUNTSVILLE, Tex. —  An Elvis Presley impersonator who was described as “Satan personified” was executed by injection early today for one of five slayings he was accused of committing.

James Paster, 44, a one-time lounge singer, was pronounced dead at 12:17 a.m. Paster’s attorney, who spoke with him by phone shortly before the execution, described his client as “upbeat,”

Paster was sentenced to death for the 1980 contract killing of a 38-year-old Houston man. The victim’s ex-wife, who paid Paster $1,000 and a motorcycle for the murder, is serving a life term. Paster was also convicted of murdering an 18-year-old Conroe woman. He also pleaded guilty to the slaying of another woman and has confessed to killing two other Houston-area women, although he never was tried for those offenses.

In April, Paster and another condemned killer unsuccessfully tried to escape from death row by squeezing through a 1-foot-square air vent and sawing through an exhaust fan opening. “I’m about as smart as a box of rocks,” Paster said after his capture.