Jose Antonio Jimenez was the 1,490th person
executed in the United States since 1976, the 97th person executed in
Florida, and the 1,313th person executed by lethal injection.
Florida executed Jimenez by lethal
injection on December 13, 2018, 26 years after he viciously stabbed a woman to
death during a burglary, reported the Miami Herald.
Jimenez was pronounced dead at 9:48 p.m. The execution,
originally set for 6 p.m., was delayed by a last-minute request to the U.S.
Supreme Court to stay the execution. The court declined.
The 55-year-old condemned killer declined to make any last
statements. The nephew of victim Phyliss Minas watched from the front row of a
viewing area, separated from Jimenez by a large, thick glass window.
“Mr. Jimenez has shown no remorse or repentance for his
crime,” nephew Alan Partee said in a written statement released by the Florida
Department of Corrections after the execution. “His execution will allow
closure to a painful memory of the vicious murder ... My family hopes he has
made peace with himself and to whatever power he may or may not believe in. We
pray for his soul and feel justice has been rightfully served.”
Jimenez was convicted of the 1992 murder of 63-year-old
Minas, a clerk at the Miami-Dade criminal courthouse who was home alone when he
broke in. He stabbed her eight times, including two fatal thrusts to the heart.
At his 1994 trial, a neighbor testified he saw Jimenez, who
lived in the building, climbing down from Minas’ apartment. His fingerprint was
also found on the interior of her front door.
His defense attorneys have long insisted that Jimenez was
not the killer, and the circumstantial case did not prove he was to blame. A
jury, nevertheless, voted 12-0 to sentence him to death.
Jimenez was the fifth killer executed since Florida changed
how it administers lethal injections, a process that critics say may be cruel
and unusual punishment. In 2017, the state added a drug called etomidate —
intended to induce unconsciousness — to the lethal cocktail administered to
inmates during execution.
In arguing against the drug, Jimenez’s lawyers cited the
last execution of a Florida inmate: Eric Branch, who was put to death in
February for the 1993 murder of a college student. According to defense
lawyers, Branch screamed and his head, body and legs shook as the drug was
administered.
The Florida Supreme Court, however, rejected the claim,
saying it had already “fully considered and approved” the current method of
execution.
Gov. Rick Scott originally scheduled Jimenez’s execution for
July 18, but the Florida Supreme Court issued a stay as his defense lawyers
claimed that North Miami hadn’t turned over key police records. The high court
rejected the appeal in October, paving the way for Thursday’s execution.
Jimenez, a former house painter with a history of
crack-cocaine addiction, was also convicted of the 1990 murder of a woman on
Miami Beach. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison for that killing.
Jimenez woke up Thursday about 7:30 a.m., and later met with
a Catholic spiritual adviser. “His mood was calm. His mood was in good
spirits,” Florida corrections spokeswoman Michelle Glady said at an afternoon
press briefing.
His last meal: a Cuban sandwich, bacon, five over-easy eggs,
french fries, vanilla-chocolate ice cream and chocolate syrup.
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