Miami, Oct 30 (IANS) Florida state authorities executed Jerry Correll, sentenced to death for murdering his five-year-old daughter and three other people in 1985, ending the nine-month old provisional suspension of the death penalty in the US state.
The convict, 59, was declared dead after being administered a lethal injection on Thursday in the Starke state prison, located in Raiford, informed the state’s Department of Corrections.
With Correll’s death, the number of executions carried out in the state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1979, reached 91, Efe news reported.
Shortly before he was put to death, the US Supreme Court had turned down an appeal to postpone his execution.
It is reported that Correll spoke to his daughter on the telephone and met his spiritual guide prior to his death.
The execution comes days after ecclesiastical authorities and anti-capital punishment activists protested against Governor Rick Scott, during whose tenure 22 executions have taken place in less than five years.
With this, Scott has become the Florida governor with the highest number of executions, overtaking his predecessor Jeb Bush (1999-2007), whose eight-year term saw 21 executions.
Correll was sentenced in 1986 for the murders of his ex-wife, her mother and sister, besides his five-year-old daughter, in Orlando.