It has been reported that Texas has executed Samuel Bustamante for the 1998 fatal stabbing of a hitchhiker, bringing the number of executions in the state to 454 since 1976.

CNN has reported that Bustamante, 40, was executed on Tuesday by lethal injection. He was pronounced dead 8 minutes after receiving a mixture of lethal drugs at 6:14 p. m.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice said that tt was the seventh execution of 2010 in Texas, and at least nine more are scheduled for the summer.

CNN further reported that the Death Penalty Information Center, a non-profit organization based in Washington that opposes capital punishment, said Texas 2010 execution count in 2010 is only one under that for all other states' combined total so far this year.

The Center also said that its total of 454 since the U. S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty 1976 is well beyond that of any other state. With 106, Virginia is second. (With Inputs from Agencies)