Florida executes Robert Hendrix

Robert Hendrix

STARKE, Florida — Florida executed a man by lethal injection at 6:21 p.m. Wednesday at Florida State Prison in Starke. Robert Hendrix declined to make a final statement before the lethal drugs were administered.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied Hendrix's last-minute request for a stay without comment. He ate a last meal of pork chops, sausage gravy and biscuits, German chocolate cake and a soft drink, state corrections officials said.

Robert Hendrix was convicted of the 1990 murders of Elmer and Michelle Scott at their Lake County home.

Prosecutors said Hendrix killed the couple because Elmer Scott intended to testify against him. But Hendrix's attorney said there was no forensic evidence linking his client to the murders and that the witnesses against him were unreliable.

Hendrix becomes the fourth person executed in Florida this year and the 16th since Gov. Rick Scott took office in 2011.

Evidence in the case showed Hendrix shot Scott in the face in his trailer home, hit him in the head with the gun and stabbed him in the neck the night before Hendrix's trial in the armed burglary case was to begin in August 1990. Hendrix then used a knife to cut the throat of Scott's wife, Michelle, who fought back before Hendrix shot her three times, they added.

Scott had already made a plea deal with prosecutors in the armed burglary case in which he and Hendrix broke into a house but only Scott was caught. His cooperation led investigators to arrest Hendrix. In the weeks leading up to his trial, prosecutors say, Hendrix told friends he would kill Scott rather than return to prison

Hendrix attorney Harry Brody said the presiding judge had a conflict of interest, Hendrix's trial lawyer was ineffective at presenting mitigating circumstances during sentencing and that Hendrix was shackled during his trial, leading jurors to a biased impression that he was dangerous.

During sentencing, Hendrix's attorneys failed to call witnesses who could have testified that Hendrix was regularly beaten by his father and had a serious drug addiction, factors that could explain his unbalanced mental state, according to court papers filed by Hendrix.

Hendrix becomes the 5th condemned inmate executed by Florida this year and the 16th since Gov. Rick Scott took office in 2011, and the 86th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1979.

Hendrix becomes the 19th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1378th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Sources: The Republic, Agencies, Rick Halperin, April 23, 2014

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