Florida executes convicted murderer, child rapist by lethal injection after SCOTUS denies appeals

A Florida man convicted in the brutal 1993 killings of an 8-year-old girl and her grandmother was executed by lethal injection on Thursday after the Supreme Court denied his appeals.

Edward James, 63, was pronounced dead at 8:15 p.m. at a Florida State Prison near the city of Starke. Before he was executed, he said he did not want to give a final statement, according to The Associated Press.

A jury voted 11-1 to sentence James to death after he pleaded guilty to the Sept. 19, 1993, murders of Toni Neuner, 8, and her grandmother, 58-year-old Betty Dick.

James’ final appeals to his execution were denied by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier on Thursday, which allowed for his death sentence to move forward.

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When the attack took place, James had been renting a room in Dick’s house, which was about 10 miles north of Orlando. Neuner and three other children were at the home the night of the deadly attack, though the other three children were not harmed.

Before he returned to his room at the home, court records showed that James drank up to 24 beers and some liquor, and took LSD.

Neuner was raped and strangled to death, while Dick was stabbed 21 times. After killing them, James stole the woman’s jewelry and her car, then drove across the country to Bakersfield, California, where he was arrested on Oct. 6, 1993.

James admitted to both crimes during a videotaped confession with police.

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Several appeals arguing that James had cognitive issues that should protect him from execution were filed with state and federal courts, but all were denied.

Earlier this month, the Florida Supreme Court rejected an argument from James’ lawyers that his longtime drug and alcohol use combined with head injuries and a heart attack in 2023 led to a “mental decline” that would make execution cruel and unusual punishment.

In the denial, the justices agreed with a lower court’s decision that stated cognitive issues did not shield James from his death sentence. James’ lawyers also attempted to argue that the heart attack he experienced in prison led to oxygen deprivation that affected his brain, which should have been grounds for halting execution plans, but the court denied that too.

In Florida, death row inmates who choose lethal injection receive a three-drug cocktail consisting of a sedative, a paralytic and a heart-stopping drug, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

James’ execution marked the second one to take place in the Sunshine State this year, as James Ford was executed in February for the 1997 murders of a Charlotte County couple in front of their toddler daughter, who survived.

Florida’s next execution is scheduled to take place on April 8 when Michael Tanzi will be put to death for the 2000 murder of a woman in the Florida Keys. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.