A person convicted of the 1979 killing a 6-year-old lady who was kidnapped from her bed room was put to demise Thursday night in a report sixteenth execution in Florida this 12 months.
Bryan Frederick Jennings, 66, was pronounced useless at 6:20 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Jail close to Starke. Jennings drew the demise penalty for the homicide of Rebecca Kunash, who was raped and drowned in a canal.
When requested if he had a ultimate assertion, Jennings mentioned “No” loudly. Because the medication had been then administered, his chest heaved and his arms twitched for a couple of minutes. Then he laid nonetheless along with his mouth open.
No sufferer relations spoke to the media after the execution, and Division of Corrections spokesman Jordan Kirkland mentioned the process went as deliberate.
“The execution happened with out incident,” he mentioned. “There have been no problems.”
The execution of the ex-Marine was considered one of three scheduled this week within the U.S., although Oklahoma’s governor spared the lifetime of a person simply earlier than a deliberate deadly injection Thursday. On Friday, inmate Stephen Bryant is about to be executed by firing squad in South Carolina for a five-day killing spree many years in the past.
Court docket information present Jennings was a 20-year-old on go away from the Marine Corps on Could 11, 1979, when he eliminated the display from the lady’s bed room window whereas her dad and mom had been in one other room.
Jennings kidnapped the lady, took her in his automotive to a canal and raped her, trial testimony confirmed. He then “swung her by her legs to the bottom with such power that she fractured her cranium,” in keeping with court docket information. The lady was then drowned within the canal, the place her physique was discovered later that day.
Arrested hours in a while a site visitors warrant, Jennings matched the outline of a person seen close to the Kunash house when the lady disappeared. Shoe prints discovered on the house matched these Jennings was sporting, his fingerprints had been discovered on the lady’s windowsill, and his garments and hair had been moist, court docket information acknowledged.
Jennings was convicted and sentenced to demise twice for the 1979 homicide in Brevard County, each of which had been reversed on enchantment. The ultimate trial in 1986 resulted in a 3rd demise sentence. He additionally drew life sentences for kidnapping, sexual assault and housebreaking convictions.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Republican who signed the demise warrant, has ordered extra executions in a single 12 months than any Florida governor because the demise penalty was reinstated within the U.S. in 1976. The earlier state report was set in 2014 with eight executions.
Additiona. Florida executions are scheduled on Nov. 20 for Richard Barry Randolph and on Dec. 9 for Mark Allen Geralds, which if carried out would carry the 12 months’s whole to 18 up to now this 12 months.
DeSantis has defined the unprecedented variety of executions by saying his aim is to carry justice to victims’ households who’ve waited many years for the demise sentences to be carried out.
“A few of these crimes had been dedicated within the ’80s,” the governor mentioned at a latest information convention. “Justice delayed is justice denied. I felt I owed it to them to verify this ran very easily. If I actually thought somebody was harmless, I’d not pull the set off.”
Florida executions are all carried out through deadly injection utilizing a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the guts, in keeping with the state Division of Corrections.
Jennings had filed quite a few state and federal court docket appeals, most not too long ago contending he went months with out a lawyer previous to DeSantis signing his demise warrant, calling {that a} violation of his proper to counsel.
With Jennings’ demise, a complete of 42 individuals have undergone court-ordered execution up to now this 12 months within the U.S., and at the least 16 others — together with Bryant — had been scheduled to be put to demise in the remainder of 2025 and all through 2026, in keeping with the non-profit Loss of life Penalty Info Middle.
South Carolina’s highest court docket not too long ago refused to cease plans for Bryant’s firing squad execution, which is scheduled for Friday night. Bryant was convicted of killing three individuals greater than 20 years in the past whereas leaving taunting messages for police within the blood of considered one of his victims.
On Thursday, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt commuted Tremane Wooden’s sentence to life in jail moments earlier than Woods was to be put to demise for his function within the 2002 killing of farmworker Ronnie Wipf throughout an tried theft.
Wooden’s attorneys did not deny their shopper’s participation within the theft however maintained the person’s brother Zjaiton — who died in jail in 2019 whereas serving life with out parole — really stabbed Wipf.
