STARKE, Fla. -- A Florida man was executed Thursday nearly three decades after he was convicted of fatally stabbing his ex-wife, young daughter and two in-laws.
Jerry Correll, 59, was pronounced dead at 7:36 p.m. at Florida State Prison after receiving a lethal injection. The execution came after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his latest appeals. Correll is the 22nd inmate to be executed under Gov. Rick Scott -- the most executions under a single governor since the death penalty was reinstated in Florida in 1979.
Correll said "no sir" when asked if he had any final statement before his execution.
Correll convulsed for about 10 seconds when the lethal injection was administered at 7:27 p.m. He was pronounced dead nine minutes later.
Correll was found guilty and sentenced to death in 1986 for each of four slayings in Orlando. A jury convicted him of killing his former wife, Susan Correll; their 5-year-old daughter, Tuesday; Susan Correll's mother, Mary Lou Hines; and Susan Correll's sister, Marybeth Jones.
He was initially scheduled for execution in February, but a court put that on hold after his Florida attorneys, along with attorneys at the U.S. Supreme Court in a separate case out of Oklahoma, argued over whether a sedative used in the execution was effective in inducing unconsciousness. The sedative, midazolam, is one of three drugs used in Florida executions.
A Section on 10/30/2015