Stark, Fla. (AP) – A Florida man convicted of murdering a couple during a fishing trip at a remote farm will receive a fatal injection Thursday evening at the state’s first execution this year is.
The execution of 64-year-old James Dennis Ford is scheduled to take place in the Florida State Jail under a death warrant signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in January. This is the first execution scheduled for Florida after one execution in the state in 2024 and six in 2023.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Ford’s final appeal on Wednesday without comment.
Ford was convicted by a ju judge who killed 25 and 26-year-old Kimberly Marnolly, Gregory Marnolly, while fishing on a remote turf farm in southwestern Florida in 1997. Ford and Gregory Marnolly were colleagues at Charlotte County Farm, court records show.
The couple’s 22-month-old daughter witnessed the murder while tied up in the seat of the family’s open pickup truck. She survived an 18-hour ordeal before the crime scene was discovered by workers. Investigators said she was found covered in her mother’s blood and suffering from bites by numerous mosquitoes and other insects.
According to court documents, Ford arrives to go fishing, after a group arrives, shoots him in the head with a .22 caliber rifle, behaves him with a blunt instrument like a shaft, and eventually slashes his throat. Ford says he attacked Gregory Marnolly. Kimberly Marnolly was beaten, raped and shot with the same rifle, authorities say.
Ford initially told investigators he was alive when the Munorez left them to go hunting, suggesting that someone else had killed them. “There is overwhelming evidence that Ford is responsible for the murder and rape,” the prosecutor said in a court filing.
The rifle was later discovered in a nearby ditch where Ford’s truck was exhausted from gas, and prosecutors presented DNA evidence at his trial that led to both murders. The ju judge voted 11-1 to recommend the death penalty for murders that the judge agreed to.
Also, a Texas man who killed his strip club manager and another man on Thursday was scheduled to be executed in Texas after urged a massive lockdown of the state’s prison system.
Ford’s lawyers have filed numerous appeals since his sentence was imposed, but have not been successful. More recently, the Florida Supreme Court rejected the allegation that his IQ at the time of the murder placed him in the mentally disabled category of around 14 years of age.
The court said only defendants who were under the age of 18 at the time of the crime could be subject to the death penalty. Exemption age. ”
It is not clear from court records why these killings occurred. Part of Ford’s defense was that he suffered from childhood abuse, became an alcoholic like his father, and drank about beer cases along with alcohol. He also suffered from untreated diabetes, which sometimes led to power losses and unstable behavior.
In addition to the death penalty, Ford was convicted of sexual assault with firearms and child abuse.
If executed as planned, Ford’s execution will be the first in Florida in 2025. One person died in 2024. For the past three years, the governor has not registered for execution.
The Death Penalty Information Center said Florida is using a three-drug cocktail for deadly injections. It is a sedative, paralytic, and heart-stopping drug.
