Berry is the second U.S. inmate executed since the Supreme Court upheld Kentucky's lethal injection procedure in April. His appeals were denied by the high court and he was put to death by injection at 6:15 p.m. CDT Wednesday.

Berry confessed that he abducted Mary Bounds in 1987 as she left church choir practice in Houston, Miss., then beat her to death and dumped her body on a rural road.

Courts rejected arguments from Berry's attorneys that he was mentally retarded.

Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps says Berry told him he had no remorse and that "he felt he had served 21 years and that's enough."