Florida executed Curtis Windom, 59, by lethal injection on Thursday, marking the state's 11th execution this year—the highest annual total since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Windom was pronounced dead at 6.17pm local time at Florida State Prison near Starke.
Windom was convicted of murdering Johnnie Lee, Valerie Davis, and Mary Lubin on 7 November 1992 in the Orlando area. Court records show Windom believed Lee owed him $2,000 and, after learning Lee had won money at a greyhound track, bought a revolver and ammunition. He shot Lee twice in the back from his car, then twice more at close range. He then fatally shot his girlfriend, Valerie Davis, without provocation, and later killed her mother, Mary Lubin, as she drove to her daughter's apartment.
Windom's final appeals were rejected by the US Supreme Court on Wednesday. His lawyers had argued that evidence of his mental health problems should have been introduced at trial, but the Florida Supreme Court ruled this was not prejudicial because prosecutors could then have presented evidence that Windom was a drug dealer and the victims were police informants.
Windom's daughter, Curtisia Windom, who has campaigned against her father's execution, told the Orlando Sentinel: 'We've all been traumatised. It hurt. It hurt a lot. Life was not easy growing up. But if we could forgive him, I don't see why people on the street who haven't been through our pain have a right to say he should die.'
Florida has executed more people than any other state this year, with Texas and South Carolina tied for second place with four each. A 12th execution, of David Joseph Pittman, is scheduled for 17 September. The state uses a three-drug lethal injection protocol.
