22 March 2025 :
March 20, 2025 - Florida. Edward James, 63, White, was executed
Prison officials said James was pronounced dead at 8:15 p.m. after receiving a 3-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He drew the death penalty after pleading guilty to the Sept. 19, 1993, killings of Toni Neuner, 8, and her grandmother, Betty Dick, 58.
As he awaited the injection, James said he did not wish to give a final statement. Then, as the drugs were administered, James breathed heavily, his arms flinching and then he was still.
James had been renting a room in Dick’s house, where Toni Neuner and three other children were staying the night of the attack.
Court records show James drank up to 24 beers at a party, downed some gin and also took LSD before returning to his room at Dick’s house. The girl was raped and strangled to death. The other children were not harmed.
James, who pleaded guilty to the charges, was also convicted of the girl’s rape and of stealing Dick’s jewelry and car after stabbing her 21 times. Court documents show James drove the car across the country, occasionally selling pieces of jewelry until he was arrested on Oct. 6 of that year in California.
Police obtained a videotaped confession from James, who despite his guilty pleas was sentenced to death upon an 11-1 recommendation by a jury.
James becomes the 2nd person executed in Florida in 2025, the 107th since the state resumed executions in 1979, the 10th prisoner executed this year in U.S., and the No. 1617 since the U.S. resumed executions in 1977.
Florida man executed for killings of 8-year-old girl, grandmother - CBS Miami
