Eric Scott Branch, 47, was executed by lethal injection on Thursday in Florida
A Florida inmate convicted of raping and killing a college student decades ago has yelled ‘murderers!’ three times, thrashing on a gurney as he was being put to death, while death row inmates set to die in two other states won reprieves.
Eric Scott Branch, 47, was executed by lethal injection and pronounced dead at 7.05pm on Thursday at Florida State Prison after the court rejected his appeals without comment.
Just as officials were administering the lethal drugs that included a powerful sedative, Branch let out a loud, blood-curdling scream, thrashed about on his gurney and then yelled ‘murderers! murderers! murderers’ before falling silent with a guttural groan.
Moments earlier, he had asked Florida Governor Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi, both Republicans, to carry out the execution themselves.
‘Let them come down here and do it. I’ve learned that you’re good people and this is not what you should be doing,’ Branch told the corrections officers in the room.
Also Thursday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott commuted Thomas Whitaker’s death sentence and the Supreme Court granted a stay for Doyle Lee Hamm in Alabama.
The day had been set to be the first in eight years that three states carried out executions on the same day.
Also Thursday, the governor of Texas commuted Thomas Whitaker’s (left) death sentence and the US Supreme Court granted a stay for Doyle Lee Hamm (right) in Alabama
Branch was convicted of the rape and fatal beating of University of West Florida student 21-year-old Susan Morris, whose naked body was found buried in a shallow grave near a nature trail.
Evidence shows that Branch approached Morris after she left a night class on January 11, 1993, so he could steal her red Toyota and return to his home state of Indiana. He was arrested while traveling there.
Branch raped and murdered Susan Morris, 21, and buried her body in a shallow grave
Branch also was convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Indiana and of another sexual assault in Panama City, Florida.
After Branch was executed on Thursday, the Morris family issued a statement saying they are still mourning the victim’s death a quarter century ago.
‘Twenty-five years ago, Susan’s life was suddenly and brutally extinguished. We have grieved for her longer that she was with us. Yet because of who she was … she will never be forgotten by those who love her,’ said the statement read out by the victim’s sister, Wendy Morris Hill.
Branch’s last meal was a pork chop, T-bone steak, French fries and two pints of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, a Corrections Department spokeswoman said. He refused a meeting with a spiritual advisor.
In Texas, Thomas Whitaker, 38, was convicted of masterminding a 2003 plot against his family in which his mother Tricia, 51, and brother Kevin, 19, were killed. His father, Kent, was shot in the chest and survived.
A devout Christian and retired executive, Kent Whitaker said he had forgiven his son and that his family did not want him to be executed. In a clemency petition, the father said if the death penalty were implemented, it would make his pain worse.
On Tuesday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles in a unanimous decision recommended clemency based largely on his father’s request.
Whitaker (left) set up the ambush that killed his mom and brother (right). His father (center) survived the shooting and, after learning to forgive his son, asked state officials for mercy
Kent Whitaker (left) said he had forgiven his killer son (right) and that his family did not want him to be executed. The governor of Texas commuted the death sentence at the dad’s request
Abbott, a Republican, commuted the sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole, saying various factors influenced his decision, including the appeals of the father and the board’s recommendation.
‘I´m thankful for this decision, not for me but for my dad. Whatever punishment I might have received or will receive will be just. I deserve any punishment for my crimes, but my dad did nothing wrong,’ Thomas Whitaker was quoted as saying by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
In Alabama, the lethal injection of an inmate was delayed as the US Supreme Court considers his request to block the execution.
Hamm’s attorney argued that lymphoma and past drug use have damaged his veins too much for a lethal injection. Alabama prison officials say they plan to inject him through his leg veins
Justices issued the temporary stay at 6pm on Thursday, the same time that Doyle Lee Hamm was scheduled to be executed.
The court will decide later whether to let the execution proceed Thursday evening.
Hamm’s attorney argued that lymphoma and past drug use have damaged his veins too much for a lethal injection.
Alabama prison officials have told the courts that they plan to connect the intravenous line to usable veins in Hamm’s lower extremities.
Hamm was convicted in the 1987 killing of motel clerk Patrick Cunningham.