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Last US execution of the year takes place in Florida
WASHINGTON, Dec 14, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The last execution of 2018 in the
United States took place Thursday in Florida, bringing the number of people
put to death in the country this year to 25.
Jose Jimenez, 55, was declared dead at 9:48 pm (0248 GMT) after receiving a
lethal injection at the state prison in Starke.
In October 1992, Jimenez broke into the apartment of a neighbor in North
Miami, apparently with the intent to rob her. Instead, he stabbed and beat
63-year-old court clerk Phyllis Minas to death.
“It was a very gruesome crime. He was utterly merciless,” the lawyer who
prosecuted Jimenez in 1994, Michael Band, told The Miami Herald.
Jimenez’s execution had been pushed back several times due to legal
proceedings.
His lawyers filed several 11th-hour motions for a stay of execution,
including before the US Supreme Court, arguing that his drug addiction was
not properly taken into account.
Jimenez was the 25th person executed in the United States this year, and
the second in Florida.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1020 hrs