A former US Marine convicted of the brutal 1979 murder of a six-year-old girl is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in Florida on Thursday evening.
Bryan Frederick Jennings, 66, is set to receive the injection at 6pm at Florida State Prison near Starke, unless he receives an unexpected last-minute reprieve.
The Crime That Shocked a Community
According to court documents, Jennings was just 20 years old and on leave from the Marine Corps when he committed the horrific crime on May 11, 1979.
Jennings abducted six-year-old Rebecca Kunash from her bedroom while her parents were in another part of the family home. Court records show he removed the screen from her bedroom window to gain entry.
The former Marine then took the young girl to a nearby canal where he raped her before swinging her by her legs with such force that she suffered a fractured skull. Rebecca was subsequently drowned in the canal, where her body was discovered later that same day.
Swift Investigation and Conviction
Jennings was arrested merely hours after the murder on an unrelated traffic warrant. Investigators quickly noticed he matched the description of a man seen near the Kunash residence when Rebecca disappeared.
The evidence against him was substantial: shoe prints found at the crime scene matched those Jennings was wearing, his fingerprints were discovered on the girl's windowsill, and his clothing and hair were both wet at the time of his arrest.
In addition to his murder conviction, Jennings received life prison sentences for kidnapping, sexual assault and burglary charges.
Record Executions Under Governor DeSantis
If the execution proceeds as planned, it will mark the 16th death sentence carried out under Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, setting a new record for Florida since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
Governor DeSantis has overseen more executions in a single year than any previous Florida governor. The previous record stood at eight executions in 2014.
At a recent news conference, DeSantis explained his approach, stating: "Some of these crimes were committed in the '80s. Justice delayed is justice denied. I felt I owed it to them to make sure this ran very smoothly. If I honestly thought someone was innocent, I would not pull the trigger."
Two additional executions are scheduled before year's end - Richard Barry Randolph on November 20 and Mark Allen Geralds on December 9 - which would bring Florida's 2025 total to 18 executions.
Legal Challenges and Appeals
Jennings has pursued numerous appeals through both state and federal courts over the decades. His most recent legal challenge contended that he spent months without legal representation before Governor DeSantis signed his death warrant, violating his constitutional right to counsel.
His current legal team also argues that Jennings has been improperly denied a clemency hearing since 1988.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal on Wednesday, clearing the path for his execution.
Anti-capital punishment group Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty has criticised the process, with the organisation's legal and policy director Maria DeLiberato stating: "Florida's death penalty system has become unrecognizable from the one the law promises. Bryan Jennings was left without a state court lawyer for years, denied a clemency review in this century, and then selected for execution because of favorable political timing."
Nationally, 40 men have been executed in the United States so far this year, with at least 18 additional executions scheduled through the remainder of 2025 and into next year.
Florida's lethal injection protocol involves a three-drug combination including a sedative, a paralytic agent and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.
