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Jerry Correll,
59, is scheduled to die by injection at 6 p.m. in the execution
chamber at Florida State Prison. If carried out, it would be the
state's second execution this year.
Correll's execution was originally set for February but was
delayed as the U.S. Supreme Court weighed a challenge to the
drug midazolam, a sedative used during the state's lethal
injection protocol.
The high court cleared the drug for use in a 5-4 ruling in June,
finding midazolam did not violate the U.S. Constitution's ban on
cruel and unusual punishment in a challenge brought by three
Oklahoma death row inmates.
Correll's attorneys subsequently argued in state court that the
drug would have a uniquely cruel impact on him, due to his
history of brain damage and drug use.
A state circuit judge ruled against Correll in August and the
Florida Supreme Court earlier this month lifted a stay on his
execution.
Correll was sentenced to Florida's death row for the 1985
murders of his former wife, Susan Correll, 25, and their
5-year-old daughter, Tuesday, at their home in the Orlando area.
He was also found guilty of fatally stabbing Mary Lou Hines, 48,
his ex-wife's mother, and Marybeth Jones, 29, her sister, before
fleeing the home.
Investigators said Correll, who was married to Susan Correll
from 1978 to 1983, was angry because she had begun dating again.
Correll’s execution would mark the 22nd in five years under
Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott, surpassing the 21
executions conducted in eight years under former Governor Jeb
Bush, who is now seeking the Republican presidential nomination.
(Editing by Letitia Stein and Bill Trott)
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