Florida man executed for killing 8-year-old girl and her grandmother

A Florida man who killed an 8-year-old girl and her grandmother on a night in which he drank heavily and used drugs was executed Thursday evening.Prison officials said Edward James, 63, was pronounced dead at 8:15 p.m.after receiving a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke.He drew the death penalty after pleading guilty to the Sept.

19, 1993, killings of Toni Neuner, 8, and her grandmother, Betty Dick, 58.As he awaited the injection, James said he did not wish to give a final statement.Then, as the drugs were administered, James breathed heavily, his arms flinching, and then he was still.Jared Pearson, Neuner’s brother, said afterward that the family was able to find some kind of peace with the process.“But we lost generations because of him,” Pearson said.“It’s all pure evil.

That night was horrific.”Three other executions were carried out this week in the US, including the lethal injection earlier Thursday of an Oklahoma man for the fatal shooting of a woman during a home invasion.Arizona executed a man by an injection Wednesday and Louisiana used nitrogen gas for the first time Tuesday, putting a man to death as that state ended a 15-year pause on executions.The U.S.Supreme Court denied James’ final appeals earlier in the day, clearing the way for the state’s second execution of the year.Gov.

Ron DeSantis signed James’ death warrant earlier this year and another warrant for an execution in early April.James had been renting a room in Dick’s house in Casselberry, about 10 miles north of Orlando, where Neuner and three other children were staying the night of the attack.Court records show James drank up to 24 beers at a party, downed some gin and also took LSD before returning to his room at Dick’s house.The girl was raped and strangled to death.The other children were not harmed.James, who pleaded guilty to the charges, was also convicted of the girl’s rape and of stealing Dick’s jewelry and car after stabbing her 2...