Navy veteran executed for killing wife, son
 |  Bailey in an undated photo. |
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JARRATT, Virginia (Reuters) -- A former Navy submarine crewman who was a veteran of the Gulf War was executed Thursday by the state of Virginia for the 1998 murders of his wife and 2-year-old son.
Mark Bailey, 34, was pronounced dead at 9:07 p.m. at the Greensville Correctional Center, in Jarratt.
It was the third execution in Virginia this year.
Asked if he had a last statement, Bailey said, "No, thank you."
Bailey was sentenced to death in 1999 for killing Katherine Bailey and his son, Nathan. Katherine Bailey, 22, was shot three times in the head as she slept. Nathan was shot twice in the head as he climbed out of bed.
His defense lawyers argued that Bailey was a manic depressive and that this was not known to the jury during the penalty phase of the trial. Prosecutors argued that Bailey carefully planned the murders and knew what he was doing.
Bailey, in a confession to police, said that after the murders he washed blood off his face and then cut the bathroom window screen and the outside telephone line to his home to make it appear as if someone had broken in.
He used a .22-caliber handgun borrowed from a friend to commit the murders. For several days prior to the deaths, Bailey, a machinist mate, told a co-worker that his wife was being threatened.
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