Jan. 7
FLORIDA---- execution
Man on death row executed
A Florida inmate has been executed for fatally stabbing a prison guard with a
sharpened spoon while on death row for abducting and killing a Miami couple.
Askari Abdullah Muhammad, previously known as Thomas Knight, was pronounced
dead at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday after a lethal injection at Florida State Prison, the
governor's office said.
The 62-year-old inmate was initially condemned to die for the 1974 abduction
and killings of Sydney and Lillian Gans of Miami. Tuesday's execution was
specifically for his conviction for the 1980 killing of corrections officer
Richard Burke.
The execution was delayed because of numerous appeals and rulings, including a
1987 federal appeals court tossing out his original death sentence because he
was stopped from putting on character and background witnesses in the penalty
phase.
Muhammad becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
Florida and the 82nd overall since the state resumed capital punishment in
1979. Only Texas (508), Virginia (110), and Oklahoma (108) have carried out
more executions in the USA since the death penalty was re-legalized on July 2,
1976.
Muhammad becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the
USA and the 1360th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17,
1977.
(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)
_______________________________________________
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A free service of WashLaw
http://washlaw.edu
(785)670.1088
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
