Today Texas executed its 400th prisoner since the US reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Johnny Ray Conner, 32, was killed by lethal injection.

“What is happening to me is unjust and the system is broken,” he said in his final statement.

In 2005, a judge overturned Conner’s death sentence and ordered a retrial, claiming his lawyers had been ineffective. In January, a federal appeals court reversed that decision.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the US has executed more than 1,090 prisoners since 1976. A third have been carried out in Texas.

Are we to believe the population there is that much more evil? (Current president notwithstanding, this is not a trick question.)