TALLAHASSY, Fla. (AP) – A Florida man convicted of murdering a woman in 1993 and raping and killing her 8-year-old granddaughter in Seminole County is scheduled to be executed next month.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant for Edward James, 63, on Tuesday. James is scheduled to be executed on March 20th at Florida State Jail.
On September 19, 1993, James brutally attacked 8-year-old Toni Neuner, who was staying at his grandmother Betty Dick’s house, but also killed a 58-year-old woman. James had rented a room at Dick’s house.
According to court records, James raped her vagina and attitude before strangled Neuner before throwing her body over the room. The young girl suffered a severe internal injury and was strangled.
James then went to Neuner’s grandmother’s bedroom and was planning to have sex with her. Instead, he stabbed her more than 20 times with two different knives, the record shows.
James pleaded guilty to the charges of murder, child abuse and temptation, and refused to contest other charges that he said he did not remember.
His execution will be the second state so far this year. Earlier this month, James Dennis Ford was murdered in 1997 in Charlotte County in the murder of a couple.
