UPDATE 6/19/2014 -- John Henry's execution was temporarily delayed waiting for a last-minute appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court which was denied. Henry was pronounced dead at 7:43pm.
Eddie Davis is the next person scheduled to be executed in the state. That will take place on July 10th.
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Florida is on track to execute its first inmate since the flawed and controversial execution in Oklahoma that led to an inmate’s heart attack.
That execution led to an unusual seven weeks lull in executions throughout the country. Missouri, South Carolina, and Ohio have postponed executions, but Florida has maintained its schedule.
63-year old John Henry will be executed at the Florida State prison in Starke. Henry is convicted of stabbing his estranged wife and her son to death in 1985.
Henry’s lawyers tried to make the case that the man on death-row was not mentally stable. They claimed Henry was not able to understand the “nature and effect of the death penalty.”
His appeal for a stay was denied by the Florida Supreme Court, which the same week issued a ruling allowing for a faster process from sentencing to execution.
There are 398 people currently on death row in Florida. Several inmates have been there for over three decades. The longest has been awaiting his sentence for 39 years. John Henry was on death row for 23 years.
Two inmates were scheduled to be executed before Henry: one was executed on Tuesday night in Georgia, the other Wednesday morning in Missouri. Henry’s execution proceedings will commence at 6 p.m. Wednesday evening.
