In what could be Florida’s record 19th execution this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed a death warrant for an inmate convicted in the 1987 murders of two people in a home in Okaloosa County.
Frank Walls, 58, is scheduled to be executed Dec. 18 in the murders of Edward Alger and Ann Peterson. The warrant came as the state prepares to execute Richard Barry Randolph on Thursday and is slated to execute Mark Allen Geralds on Dec. 9.
A 1992 sentencing document posted Tuesday on the Florida Supreme Court website with the death warrant said Walls went to the home of Alger and Peterson in the early morning hours of July 22, 1987, and woke them.
The document said Walls forced Peterson to bind Alger’s wrists and ankles. After a struggle, the document said, Walls slashed Alger’s throat and shot him three times in the head and neck.
It said Walls then struggled with Peterson before fatally shooting her.
“Prior to the infliction of that (gunshot) wound, the defendant had informed her of the fate of her boyfriend, Edward,” the document said. “She was curled up crying as she was told of what had happened to Edward. By the defendant’s own admission, it was his intent to leave no witnesses. His first shot at her went awry and struck her cheek. Upon being shot the first time, she began crying and screaming, then the defendant fired a second fatal shot into her head.”
Ordinarily, DeSantis signing a death warrant triggers a series of efforts by attorneys to halt the execution. That process starts in circuit court, goes to the Florida Supreme Court and typically ends at the U.S. Supreme Court. Challenges also can be filed in federal court.
The previous modern-era record for executions in a year in Florida was eight in 1984 and 2014. The modern era represents the period since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, after the U.S. Supreme Court had halted it in 1972.
Attorneys for Randolph, who would be the 17th inmate executed this year, went to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to try to halt his scheduled execution. They appealed after the Florida Supreme Court rejected their arguments last week. The appeal remained pending Tuesday evening, according to a court docket.
DeSantis on Oct. 21 signed a death warrant for Randolph, 63, who was convicted in the 1988 murder of Minnie Ruth McCollum at a convenience store she managed in Putnam County.
DeSantis on Nov. 7 signed a death warrant for Geralds, who was convicted in the 1989 murder of a woman in Bay County. Geralds has taken the relatively unusual step of not fighting the execution in court.
–Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida
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