Florida executes Edward James

Edward James received 3-drug lethal injection under death warrant signed in February by governor Ron DeSantis

A Florida man who killed an 8-year-old girl and her grandmother on a night in which he drank heavily and used drugs was executed on Thursday.

Edward James, 63, was pronounced dead at 8.15pm after receiving a 3-drug injection at Florida state prison outside Starke under a death warrant signed in February by Governor Ron DeSantis. The execution was the 2nd this year in Florida, which is planning a 3rd in April.

The Department of Corrections (DOC) announced that the execution was delayed to 8:00 p.m. The reason for the delay is unclear.

James drew the death penalty for the 19 September 1993, killings of 8-year-old Toni Neuner and Betty Dick, 58, the child’s grandmother. James had been renting a room in Dick’s house in Casselberry, where Toni Neuner and 3 other children were also staying that night.

Court records show James drank up to 24 beers at a party, downed some gin and also took LSD before returning to his room at Dick’s house. The girl was raped and strangled to death. The other children were not harmed.

James, who pleaded guilty to the charges, was also found guilty of the rape and of stealing Dick’s jewelry and car after stabbing her 21 times. Court documents show James drove the car across the country, occasionally selling pieces of jewelry until he was arrested on 6 October of that year in Bakersfield, California.

Police obtained a videotaped confession from James, who despite his guilty pleas was sentenced to death upon an 11-1 recommendation by a jury.

James’s lawyers filed several appeals with state and federal courts, all of which were denied. Most recently, the Florida supreme court rejected an argument that James’s longtime use of drugs and alcohol, several head injuries and a heart attack in 2023 led to mental decline that would make his execution cruel and unusual punishment.

The justices, however, agreed with a lower court decision that “James’s cognitive issues do not shield him from execution”. The court also rejected an argument from James’s lawyers that the heart attack he suffered in prison led to deprivation of oxygen that affected his brain and should be considered new evidence to halt the execution.

Even if it is new evidence, the court determined, the “defendant cannot establish that such evidence would likely yield a less severe sentence at a new penalty phase”.

The non-profit Death Penalty Information Center said Florida uses a 3-drug cocktail for its lethal injection: a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart.

Earlier this year, James Ford was executed for the 1997 killings of a couple in Charlotte county – witnessed by their toddler daughter, who survived. DeSantis also signed a death warrant for the 8 April execution of Michael Tanzi for the 2000 killing of a woman in the Florida Keys.

— James becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death in Florida and the 108th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on May 25, 1979. Only Texas (593), Oklahoma (128), and Virginia (113) have carried out more executions since the 1976 US Supreme Court decision of Gregg v Georgia allowed states to resume executions after a 4-year hiatus.

— James becomes the 10th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1,617th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Source: The Associated Press, Staff, Rick Halperin March 20, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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