In what would be Florida’s fourth execution in less than four months, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed a death warrant for a man convicted of committing two murders in Palm Beach County nearly four decades ago.
Duane Owen, 62, is scheduled to die by lethal injection June 15 in the murder of Georgianna Worden, who was bludgeoned with a hammer and sexually assaulted in her Boca Raton home in May 1984, according to the death warrant and court records.
Owen also was sentenced to death in the March 1984 murder of 14-year-old Karen Slattery, who was babysitting at a Delray Beach home, according to state and federal court documents. Slattery was stabbed to death.
“The Slattery and Worden cases are legally distinct but factually similar,” a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in a 2012 decision turning down an appeal by Owen in the Slattery case. “In each murder, Owen broke into a private home late at night, removed most of his clothing, sexually assaulted the victim, and brutally murdered the victim (he killed Slattery with a knife, Worden with a hammer). Delray Beach and Boca Raton police worked together to investigate the murders and, after Owen’s arrest, questioned Owen about both murders. Owen confessed to both murders on the same day.”
The death warrant issued Tuesday is for the Worden murder. Owen was found guilty in that case in February 1986 and sentenced to death a month later, according to a summary that Attorney General Ashley Moody sent to DeSantis in advance of the death warrant.
If the death sentence is carried out, Owen would be the fourth man put to death at Florida State Prison in 2023 after more than three years without an execution.
The state on May 3 executed Darryl Barwick in the 1986 murder of Rebecca Wendt in her Panama City apartment. Wendt was found wrapped in a comforter and had been stabbed 37 times.
That followed the April 12 execution of Louis Gaskin in the 1989 murders of a couple in Flagler County. The state on Feb. 23 put to death Donald David Dillbeck, who murdered a woman in 1990 during a carjacking in a Tallahassee mall parking lot.
Dillbeck was the first person executed since Gary Ray Bowles was put to death by lethal injection in August 2019 for a 1994 murder in Jacksonville.
As with the other three cases, DeSantis’ office did not announce the Owen death warrant Tuesday. Information was posted on the Florida Supreme Court website, along with a schedule for legal filings and other proceedings in anticipated attempts by defense attorneys to prevent the execution.
In the Barwick case, Justice Jorge Labarga indicated he is troubled by the pace of death-warrant cases this year.
In an April 28 concurring opinion as justices turned down an appeal from Barwick, Labarga wrote that “a death warrant by its very nature requires expedited proceedings. However, these solemn proceedings ultimately involve carrying out a sentence of death for the most aggravated and least mitigated of murders and must still ensure due process of law. I am extremely concerned by the recent pace of death warrants and the speed with which the parties and involved entities must carry out their respective duties.”
Labarga also cautioned that “even in this final stage of capital proceedings, a meaningful process must be ensured.”
–Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida
The Justice League says
This number of executions is totally unacceptable. Four executions in four months???? There are over 290 inmates on death row. We will never be able to get to all of them at that rate.
Mike laskay says
So why did we wait 40+ yrs to put this POS down??? Taxpayers money feeding and clothing him all that time. Un-fucking believable.
Jimbo99 says
Another sentence long overdue for closure.
dave says
About time he did something right, must be looking for votes.
DaleL says
Duane Owen certainly deserved to die for his crimes when convicted in 1986. There is no doubt as to his guilt and the horrible nature of what he was convicted of. However, there is the legal maxim, “Justice delayed is justice denied.” The wanton murder of innocent people is a crime not just against the victims, their family and friends, it is also a crime against the peace and order of society. It has taken 37 years to reach the point of his execution. That is certainly justice delayed. As a result the justice of the death sentence (if there is any) has been denied to the victims, family, friends, and society. Executing Mr. Owen at this point will not change that.
Nothing in this story, I believe, relates to Mr. Owen’s behavior while in prison for nearly four decades. Has he been a danger to other inmates and/or guards? I’m not suggesting releasing him; far from it. Rather, I suggest keeping him locked up for the rest of his life, if he has not been a continuing danger to those around him.
jay tomm says
Always wondered how they control death row inmates….
If they act up, what can they do? Assign them double secret death sentence?
JimBob says
As long as Trump keeps kicking his ass in the polls, DeSantos (sic) will kill eight or ten a day in order to slake MAGA bloodlust.
Willy Boy says
24+ years? This guy waited over 40+. The wheels of justice grind exceedingly slow.
Dave Roskins says
“I suggest keeping him locked up for the rest of his life, if he has not been a continuing danger to those around him”……….how about on your dime, eh pal???
DaleL says
According to the Florida Department of Corrections, there are about 80,000 inmates in Florida’s state prisons. Less than 300 of them are on death row. They represent 0.375% of the prison population. It is expensive to execute criminals. That is part of the reason that from the time of the sentencing until the execution usually takes decades. A sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole is frequently less expensive. The exception, as I wrote, are that inmates who do endanger other prisoners, prison guards, or even escape and endanger the public.
Keeping Mr. Owen alive, increases the cost by less than 1/80,000 or 0.00125% of the state prison budget.
http://www.dc.state.fl.us/about.html