A Florida man was executed Thursday evening after killing an 8-year-old child and her grandmother following a night of heavy drinking and drug use.
According to prison authorities, Edward James, 63, died about 8:15 p.m. after getting a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He pleaded guilty to the murders of Toni Neuner, 8, and her grandmother, Betty Dick, 58, on September 19, 1993, and was sentenced to death.
As he waited for the injection, James declined to make a last comment. Then, when the medications were injected, James breathed deeply, his arms flinched, and then he became silent.
Three additional executions took place in the United States this week, including an Oklahoma man’s lethal injection earlier Thursday for fatally shooting a woman during a home invasion. Arizona killed a man via injection on Wednesday, while Louisiana utilized nitrogen gas for the first time on Tuesday, killing a man as the state overturned a 15-year moratorium on executions.
The United States Supreme Court refused James’ last appeals earlier in the day, setting the stage for the state’s second execution of the year. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed James’ death warrant earlier this year, as well as another warrant for execution in early April.
James was renting a room at Dick’s home in Casselberry, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Orlando, where Toni Neuner and three other youngsters were sleeping on the night of the assault.
According to court papers, James drank up to 24 beers at a party, consumed gin, and took LSD before going to his room at Dick’s residence. The girl had been raped and strangled to death. The other youngsters were unharmed.
James, who pled guilty to the charges, was also convicted of raping the girl and taking Dick’s property and automobile after stabbing her 21 times. According to court records, James drove the automobile across the nation, periodically selling jewelry, until he was apprehended on October 6, that year, in Bakersfield, California.
Police secured James’ filmed confession, and despite his guilty pleas, he was condemned to death on an 11-1 jury recommendation.
James’ attorneys have filed many appeals in state and federal courts, all of which were refused. Most recently, the Florida Supreme Court rejected a claim that his lengthy history of drug and alcohol addiction, as well as many head injuries and a heart attack in 2023, contributed to a mental deterioration that would render execution cruel and unusual.
Instead, the justices agreed with a lower court finding that “James’s cognitive issues do not shield him from execution.” The court also dismissed James’ attorneys’ contention that a heart attack he experienced in jail caused oxygen deprivation that harmed his brain and should have been deemed fresh evidence to delay his execution.
According to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, Florida’s fatal injection consists of three drugs: a sedative, a paralytic, and a medication that stops the heart.
Earlier this year, James Ford was executed for the 1997 murders of a couple in Charlotte County, as seen by their infant daughter, who survived.
Florida authorities say they are prepared for Michael Tanzi’s planned execution on April 8 for the 2000 death of a woman in the Florida Keys.