On Thursday, a man from Florida who was found guilty of murdering an eight-year-old girl and her grandmother after a night of excessive drinking and drug use is set to face lethal injection. Edward James, now 63, is due to be executed starting at 6 PM at the Florida state prison near Starke according to a death warrant signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in February. This is expected to be the second execution in Florida this year, with a third planned for April.
Additionally, the United States has scheduled three other executions this week. Louisiana executed a man on Tuesday for the first time in 15 years using nitrogen gas. Arizona carried out a lethal injection on Wednesday for a man convicted of kidnapping and murdering his girlfriend’s ex-husband, while another lethal injection is set to occur on Thursday in Oklahoma.
James has been sentenced to death for the murders of Toni Neuner, age 8, and Betty Dick, age 58, on September 19, 1993. He had been renting a room in Dick’s house in Casselberry, where the incidents occurred. After drinking up to 24 beers and taking LSD, he reportedly raped and strangled Neuner to death. The other children in the house were not harmed.
He pleaded guilty to the charges, including the rape and theft of Dick’s jewelry and car after stabbing her 21 times. James then stole Dick’s car and traveled across the country, selling the jewelry until he was arrested in California on October 6, 1993. Police obtained a videotaped confession from him. Despite guilty pleas, he was sentenced to death based on a jury’s recommendation.
James’s lawyers have made several unsuccessful appeals, including arguments that his long-term drug use, head injuries, and a heart attack in 2023 showed mental decline and should halt his execution, as it could be seen as cruel and unusual punishment. The Florida supreme court ruled that James’s cognitive issues did not shield him from execution and that his heart attack would not change the outcome of a potential new penalty trial.
Florida’s lethal injection procedure uses a three-drug cocktail consisting of a sedative, a paralytic, and a drug that stops the heart. Earlier this year, James Ford was executed for the 1997 murders of a couple witnessed by their toddler daughter. DeSantis also signed a death warrant for Michael Tanzi, set to be executed on 8 April for his 2000 killing of a woman in the Florida Keys.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/20/florida-execution
