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Louis Gaskin Execution Set For Tonight

The State of Florida is getting ready to execute Louis Gaskin tonight, April 12 2023, for a double murder. According to court documents Louis Gaskin broke into the home and would murder Robert and Georgette Sturmfels. Louis Gaskin who has been on death row in Florida since 1990. If the execution takes place it will be the 100th execution in Florida since capital punishment resumed in the 1970’s

Louis Gaskin News

Florida has ramped up executions under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, with a man known as the “ninja killer” set to die Wednesday for the 1989 slayings of a couple visiting the state from New Jersey.

Louis Bernard Gaskin, 56, was scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. by lethal injection for the deaths of Robert Sturmfels, 56, and Georgette Sturmfels, 55, on Dec. 20, 1989, in their Flagler County winter home on Florida’s northeastern coast.

DeSantis has been signing death warrants at a rapid pace this year as he prepares his widely expected presidential campaign. He oversaw only two executions in his first four years in office, both in 2019.

This execution comes six weeks after Donald Dillbeck, 59, was put to death for the 1990 murder of Faye Vann, 44, in Tallahassee, and three weeks before the scheduled execution of Darryl B. Barwick for slaying Rebecca Wendt, 24, in 1986 in Panama City.

Barring any stays for Gaskin and Barwick, it will be the shortest period that three executions have been carried out in Florida since three were put to death within 36 days in 2014 under former Gov. Rick Scott, also a Republican.

It will be the state’s 100th execution since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. There are an additional 297 people on Florida’s death row.

Gaskin, who was dubbed the “ninja killer” because he wore all-black ninja clothing during the crimes, shot his victims with a .22-caliber rifle, investigators said. He was convicted of first-degree murder.

Property that he stole from the Sturmfels’ home — a clock, two lamps and a videocassette recorder — was found at his residence and were intended to be Christmas gifts for his girlfriend, according to investigators. He was also convicted of armed robbery, burglary and the attempted murder that same night of another couple who lived nearby.

Local media reported at the time that Gaskin quickly confessed to the crimes and told a psychologist before his trial that he knew what he was doing.

“The guilt was always there,” Louis Gaskin said. “The devil had more of a hold than God did. I knew that I was wrong. I wasn’t insane.”

Jurors voted 8-4 in 1990 to recommend the death sentence, which the judge accepted. Florida law now requires a unanimous jury vote for capital punishment, although the Legislature could send DeSantis a bill this week that would allow 8-4 jury recommendations for capital punishment.

The state and U.S. supreme courts have rejected appeals Gaskin filed since his death warrant was signed, with the latest denial coming Tuesday.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/florida-set-execute-ninja-killer-1989-murders-98521249

Louis Gaskin Execution

Florida executed a man known as the “ninja killer” on Wednesday for the 1989 slayings of a couple visiting the state from New Jersey.

Louis Bernard Gaskin, 56, was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. after receiving a lethal injection, the governor’s office said. He was convicted of killing Robert Sturmfels, 56, and Georgette Sturmfels, 55, on Dec. 20, 1989, in their Flagler County winter home on Florida’s northeastern coast.

Gaskin woke up at 4:45 a.m. Wednesday and had his last meal at 9:45 a.m., Department of Corrections spokesperson Kayla McLaughlin Smith said during a news conference. The meal included BBQ pork ribs, pork and turkey neck, Buffalo wings, shrimp fried rice, french fries and water.

Gaskin was visited by his sister Wednesday, but he did not meet with a spiritual adviser, McLaughlin Smith said. No relatives of the victims had arranged to be in the witness room during the execution, which was scheduled for 6 p.m. and started without delay.

When asked if he had any final statement, Gaskin said: “Justice is not about the crime. It’s not about the criminal. It’s about the law.”

He then referred to the legal proceedings surrounding his case and the appeals and finished his statement saying, “Look at my case.”

Gaskin began receiving the lethal cocktail of drugs at 6:02 p.m., causing him to breathe heavily as his chest rose and fell under a white sheet. The prison’s warden went to check on whether Gaskin was still conscious at 6:05 p.m. He didn’t respond. Gaskin’s breathing appeared to stop at 6:07 p.m. A doctor entered the death chamber at 6:14 p.m. to examine Gaskin and declared him dead a minute later.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has been signing death warrants at a rapid pace this year as he prepares his widely expected presidential campaign. He oversaw only two executions in his first four years in office, both in 2019.

Gaskin’s execution came six weeks after Donald Dillbeck, 59, was put to death for the 1990 murder of Faye Vann, 44, in Tallahassee, and three weeks before the scheduled execution of Darryl B. Barwick for slaying Rebecca Wendt, 24, in 1986 in Panama City.

Barring any stays for Barwick, it will be the shortest period that three executions have been carried out in Florida since three were put to death within 36 days in 2014 under former Gov. Rick Scott, also a Republican.

Gaskin’s death marked the state’s 101st execution since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. There are an additional 297 people on Florida’s death row, which is located at Florida State Prison, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of Jacksonville.

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FILE – This undated photo provided by the Florida Department of Corrections shows Louis Bernard Gaskin. Florida executed Gaskin, known as the “ninja killer,” on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, for the 1989 slayings of a couple visiting the state from New Jersey. (Florida Department of Corrections via AP, File)

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — Florida executed a man known as the “ninja killer” on Wednesday for the 1989 slayings of a couple visiting the state from New Jersey.

When asked if he had any final statement, Gaskin said: “Justice is not about the crime. It’s not about the criminal. It’s about the law.”

He then referred to the legal proceedings surrounding his case and the appeals and finished his statement saying, “Look at my case.”

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Local media reported at the time that Gaskin quickly confessed to the crimes and told a psychologist before his trial that he knew what he was doing.

“The guilt was always there,” Gaskin said. “The devil had more of a hold than God did. I knew that I was wrong. I wasn’t insane.”

The state and U.S. supreme courts rejected appeals Gaskin filed since his death warrant was signed. The latest denial came Tuesday.

https://apnews.com/article/florida-execution-ninja-killer-desantis-96a9a68fce0fdb74b186f930b01460cc

Donald Dillbeck Execution Scheduled For Tonight

Donald Dillbeck is scheduled to be executed tonight, February 23, 2023, by the State of Florida. According to court documents Donald Dillbeck was serving a life sentence for the murder of a police officer when he escaped and would stab to death a woman during a carjacking. For his second murder Donald Dillbeck would be sentenced to death.

Donald Dillbeck lawyers have been trying to get his death sentence commuted to life in prison due to mental issues stating that he suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome. Donald Dilbeck has been on Florida death row since 1990

Donald Dillbeck Execution More News

In a first since 2019, a convicted killer is set to be executed in the Florida State Prison. Donald Dillbeck, who murdered a law enforcement officer and a woman during a carjacking, is scheduled to be put to death after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his death warrant.

The death chamber in Florida has been silent for three and a half years, which is the longest time between executions in 40 years. Gary Ray Bowles, who killed half a dozen men in 1994, was the last person to be executed in the state in August 2019.

Dillbeck’s execution has been a subject of debate among anti-death penalty advocates. Maria DiLiberato, the head of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, argued that Dillbeck should have been granted an exemption from execution due to a “mental condition” caused by his alcoholic mother, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

“Killing him will not bring back the people that he killed. If that were true, we’d have a much different argument about the death penalty,” DiLiberato said.

Deputy Lynn Hall was fatally shot by Dillbeck in 1979 at the Lee County park that now bears his name. Dillbeck was sentenced to life but escaped in 1990 in a minimum-security work detail. Days later, he fatally stabbed Faye Vann in a Tallahassee mall parking lot and was sentenced to death.

Michael Sheedy, the executive director for the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, expressed his deep sadness for the victims and their families. He joins other anti-death penalty groups in urging the governor to spare Dillbeck’s life.

“If we’re going to say killing is ‘wrong,’ but we kill in return, we’re not making sense,” Sheedy said.

Barring a stay, Dillbeck will die by lethal injection and become the 100th person executed since the death penalty was reinstated in Florida in the 1970s.

https://www.wesh.com/article/florida-execution-donald-dillbeck-mental-illness-argument/43014929

Donald Dillbeck Execution February 23 2023

For the first time in nearly four years, Florida executed a man Thursday for a carjacking that led to the brutal murder of a woman more than three decades ago.

Donald Dillbeck, 59, was pronounced dead at Florida State Prison at 6:13 p.m. ET, the governor’s office said. Dillbeck, who died by lethal injection, was condemned in the fatal stabbing of Faye Lamb Vann, 44, in a Tallahassee mall parking lot.

The U.S. Supreme Court had declined a request by Dillbeck’s attorneys to stop his execution.

The death marked Florida’s 100th execution since the death penalty was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976 and executions resumed in the state in 1979.

At the time of the murder, Dillbeck was a fugitive after escaping a work-release catering job in Gadsden County, where he was serving a life sentence for killing Lee County Deputy Dwight Lynn Hall, 31, in 1979. Dillbeck was 15 at the time

Prior to that, he stabbed a man in Indiana while trying to steal a CB radio, court records show. Dillbeck fled to Florida, where the deputy found him in a Fort Myers Beach parking lot. While Hall was searching him, Dillbeck hit the deputy in the groin and ran. Hall tackled him and Dillbeck took Hall’s gun and shot him twice.

He then walked to the shopping mall, where Vann was waiting for her family, approached her car with the knife and demanded a ride, court records show.

Vann tried to drive off and fought back, but Dillbeck stabbed her more than 20 times and slit her throat, court records show. He crashed the car a short time later and was captured running from the scene.

On the day of his execution, Donald Dillbeck went through his normal routine, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Michelle Glady said Thursday.

He visited with his spiritual adviser, she said.

At 9:45 a.m., he had his last meal: fried shrimp, mushrooms, onion rings, butter pecan ice cream, pecan pie and a chocolate bar, the Tallahassee Democrat, part of the USA TODAY Network reported.

The curtain between the death chamber and the viewing room opened at 6 p.m. Thursday.

His last words: “I know I hurt people when I was young. I really messed up.” He also criticized Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, saying “he has done a lot worse. He’s taken a lot from a lot of people. I speak for all men, women and children. He’s put his foot on our necks.”

The execution began at 6:02 p.m., and Dillbeck closed his eyes shortly thereafter. He was declared dead roughly 10 minutes later.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/02/24/donald-dillbeck-florida-execution-faye-lamb-vann/11337475002/

David Funchess Florida Execution

David Funchess was executed by the State of Florida for the murders of two people. According to court documents David Funchess would stab to death two people during a robbery at a lounge. David Funchess would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. David Funchess would be executed by way of the electric chair on April 22 1986

David Funchess More News

A man who was wounded in Vietnam and convicted in the slaying of two bar employees in Jacksonville in 1974 was executed here today in the electric chair.

The convict, David Livingston Funchess, 39 years old, was executed 90 minutes after the United States Supreme Court voted 7 to 2 not to extend a five-hour stay it issued earlier today. He was pronounced dead at 5:11 P.M.

”I feel sorry for his family,” said Madge Stewart, whose father, Clayton Ragan, was killed, along with Anna Waldrop, by Mr. Funchess. ”They’re going to lose a loved one. But they got to see him 11 years longer than I got to see my loved one.”

She and Betti Shupe, the daughter of Mrs. Waldrop, hugged when told that Mr. Funchess was dead.

The execution had been set for 7 A.M. but was stayed by a Federal appeals court in Atlanta. It was later stayed again by the Supreme Court. Convicted in 1975

Mr. Funchess, diagnosed as suffering from stress stemming from duty in Vietnam, was the 56th person executed in the United States since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, and the third in eight days.

Peter Erlinder, a professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minn., who has researched the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder on Vietnam veterans, said Mr. Funchess was the first veteran executed despite being diagnosed as suffering from the disorder.

Mr. Erlinger said at least two Vietnam veterans had been acquitted of murder charges after asserting that they suffered from the disorder, which was not recognized until 1980. Mr. Funchess was convicted in 1975.

Mr. Funchess was condemned to die for killing a woman and a man in a holdup Dec. 16, 1974, in a Jacksonville bar, where he worked a year earlier. Served Two and a Half Months

Mr. Funchess’s lawyer, Jeff Thompson, also a Vietnam veteran, had argued that Mr. Funchess was a victim of post-traumatic stress disorder, an affliction said to have affected thousands of veterans who are unable to adjust to civilian life after combat in an unpopular war.

Symptoms include experiencing flashbacks and suppressing memories of violence.

David Funchess was 19, had no criminal record and had graduated in the top third of his high school class when he was drafted in 1967. He was wounded when he stepped on a land mine after serving two and a half months and was then discharged.

Vernon Bradford, a spokesman for the State Department of Corrections, said Mr. Funchess’s parents, Wenis Funchess and Alice Roberts; his wife, Christine, and three sisters and two brothers visited him from late Monday until early today

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/23/us/vietnam-veteran-is-put-to-death-in-florida.html

Daniel Thomas Florida Execution

Daniel Thomas was executed by the State of Florida for a sexual assault and murder. According to court documents Daniel Thomas would break into a home where he would shoot the male homeowner before sexually assaulting the man’s wife. Daniel Thomas would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Daniel Thomas would be executed by way of the electric chair on April 15 1986

Daniel Thomas More News

Kicking, cursing and fighting with five Death Row guards, ski-mask killer Daniel Thomas was strapped into Florida’s electric chair Tuesday and executed for murdering a man and raping his wife as her husband lay dying.

Veteran observers said the struggle was the first to take place in Florida State Prison’s death room within memory.

Cursing and screaming ″Get off me 3/8 Get off me 3/8″ Thomas, 37, was subdued after a seven-minute struggle during which he kicked one guard in the groin and tried to bite another on the arm.

He was pronounced dead at 12:19 p.m. EST – the 14th man electrocuted in the state since 1979, after the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty.

″It was violent. It was the first time this has happened in my experience, … and I’ve never heard of it before,″ said prison spokesman Vernon Bradford.

Daniel Thomas, a member of the ″ski-mask gang″ that rampaged through rural central Florida for 10 months in 1975 and 1976, was convicted of the New Year’s Day 1976 shooting death of Charles Anderson, 48.

The killer forced Anderson’s wife, Betty, to have sex with him as Anderson bled to death in their Polk County home.

During the death-chamber melee, Thomas, about 6 feet tall and 180 pounds, slid down into the chair, his legs thrashing wildly at the men trying to restrain him.

Guards, assisted by a doctor and a physician’s assistant, managed to stop Thomas’ outburst and pin him to the three-legged, oak electric chair. A strap was placed around his chin.

Prison Superintendent Richard Dugger then approached the condemned man, leaned over and spoke directly into his face, apparently telling him he would not be able to read his last statement unless he settled down.

Panting wildly for about 20 seconds, Thomas quieted and began reading from a yellow legal sheet in a low voice, much of it incomprehensible to 19 witnesses, stunned by the struggle they had observed through large windows.

″We are human tools, political pawns, political human sacrifices for the politicians,″ Thomas mumbled, referring to Florida’s 241 death row prisoners.

The black-hooded executioner threw the switch sending 2,000 volts through the prisoner’s body at 12:14 p.m. Thomas was pronounced dead five minutes later.

Gov. Bob Graham, in a statement in Tallahassee after Thomas’ sentence was carried out, drew a parallel to the U.S. raid on Libya.

″The taking of human life is the most difficult action of government, whether it occurs on foreign soil or within our state,″ Graham said.

″Society must be prepared to defend itself against those who have little regard for human life by invoking this ultimate penalty,″ Graham said.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a final appeal about six minutes before Thomas entered the death chamber. It was Thomas’ second death warrant. He escaped the electric chair in October 1982, receiving a stay from a federal judge just hours before his scheduled date.

It was the first execution in Florida in almost 11 months and came on the ninth anniversary of the imposition of Thomas’ death sentence.

Earlier this week, Mrs. Anderson said Thomas’ execution might help relieve the sleepless nights she had experienced since her husband’s murder.

″Everyone gives more sympathy to the criminals than to the victims,″ Mrs. Anderson said. ″The victims have to live with this. Even after he (Thomas) is dead and gone, they’ll still be living with it.″

https://apnews.com/article/ad166994ad2a60e351bbb6e18177b296

Marvin Francois Florida Execution

Marvin Francois was executed by the State of Florida for the murders of six people. According to court documents Marvin Francois would enter a drug house and open fire killing six people. Marvin Francois would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Marvin Francois would be executed by way of the electric chair on May 29 1985

Marvin Francois More News

Former heroin addict Marvin Francois died in the electric chair today for the 1977 execution-style slayings of an alleged drug dealer and five other people.

Francois, 39, was pronounced dead shortly after 7 a.m. EDT from a 2,000-volt surge of electricity in Florida’s ‘Old Sparky’ wooden electric chair. He spent his final hours alone early today after embracing his mother and children one last time.

He ate a hearty last meal of shrimp, lobster tail, barbecued spare ribs, chicken breast, watermelon, strawberries, sliced tomatoes and french fries in his Florida State Prison cell at 4:30 a.m.

The convicted killer, who refused the services of a clergyman, became the 12th person executed in the United States this year, the 44th since the Supreme Court lifted its ban on capital punishment in 1976.

About 25 anti-death penalty protesters and two people favoring executions marched outside the prison in rural northern Florida.

Prison spokesman Vernon Bradford said Francois was allowed visitors from 8 p.m. until midnight through a glass partition. At midnight his mother, girlfriend and twin teenage children were allowed a ‘contact’ visit.

The condemned man’s mother, Muriel Hollingsworth, and girlfriend, Juanita Pace, of Miami, accompanied his son Aleasian and daughter Alexis to the prison.

Francois did not receive a last-minute visit from his 37-year-old brother Kerry, of Miami. The brother was paroled from the Florida State Prison in 1980 after serving 16 years of a life sentence for murder.

Francois had been scheduled to die Tuesday morning but won a temporary stay from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. Tuesday night, however, the Supreme Court turned down his final request for a stay.

He was sentenced to die for the July 27, 1977, murder of six people and the wounding of two others at a northwest Miami house believed the headquarters of a drug ring.

At a 1982 clemency board hearing, Francois’ attorney said he had become helpless because of heroin addiction and was framed by ‘scanty and unreliable’ evidence.

Prosecutors contended Francois was hired by a drug dealer to kill a competitor and the other victims were shot because his face mask slipped and he feared they could identify him.

Police said the victims were forced to lie face down and then shot in the head. Francois was identified as the gunman by a survivor, an accomplice and by his common-law wife.

But assistant public defender Rory Stein said Francois was a victim of a cruel childhood. He said as a boy Francois was forced to live on the streets of New Orleans because his father was a drug addict, his mother a prostitute.

‘Mr. Francois has had a difficult and hard life,’ Stein said. ‘He is a weak man.’

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/05/29/Former-heroin-addict-Marvin-Francois-died-in-the-electric/6564486187200/