A man convicted of raping and murdering a woman 30 years ago is scheduled to be executed Tuesday after luring her out of a Florida supermarket parking lot.
Anthony Wainwright, 54, is due to receive a fatal injection at the Florida State Jail near Stark. He was convicted in April 1994 of murdering 23-year-old Carmen Gayhart, the mother of two young children, in Lake City.
Wainwright will be the sixth person in Florida this year. The state executed six people in 2023, but last year only one execution was carried out. Four executions are scheduled for nationwide this week, with another execution scheduled for Tuesday in Alabama. On Monday, an Oklahoma judge granted a temporary enforcement stay for the man scheduled to be killed Thursday.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied some of Wainwright’s appeals on Monday. His lawyers filed last-minute efforts to seek enforcement stays Tuesday morning, focusing on allegations that he was inappropriately banned from hiring an attorney of his choice under state law.
Another man convicted of Gayheart’s murder, Richard Hamilton, was also sentenced to death. He died on death row in January 2023 at the age of 59.
Gayhart’s sister, who is scheduled to attend the execution, said 30 years is too long to wait for justice.
“It’s ridiculous how much they appeal,” Maria David told The Associated Press, adding that each step in the appeal process has resumed the wounds of her family. “They have to tell the whole story again, so you have to relive it again.”
Wainwright and Hamilton fled from a North Carolina prison, stole a green Cadillac, and robbed the house the next morning, taking guns and money. They then headed to Florida and when Cadillac began to have problems in Lake City, they decided to steal another vehicle.
Court documents show that she confronted Gay Hart, a community college student, on April 27, 1994, and on April 27, 1994 she packed her blue Ford Bronco with groceries. They pushed her into the car at the muzzle and kicked her out. They raped her in the back seat, took her out of the car and tried to shoot her twice in the back of her head, the court application states. They dragged her body down the road dozens of yards and drove.
The two men were arrested in Mississippi the following day after a shootout with police.
A 1995 ju judge recommended that Wainwright be convicted of murder, tricking, robbery and rape and be sentenced to death unanimously.
Wainwright’s lawyers have filed multiple failed appeals over the years based on evidence that he suffered from brain damage and intellectual disability, based on what he said was a matter of trial.
With his execution scheduled, his lawyers argued in state and federal court filings that the court should hold off his execution to allow time for further legal arguments in his case.
In his filing before the U.S. Supreme Court, his lawyers argue that his case is “through a serious and systematic failure at almost every stage and signature of his death warrant.” These failures include false ju judge instructions, inflammatory, inflammatory closed arguments, and defective DNA evidence that was not disclosed to the defense until after the failure by a court-appointed lawyer, the filing states.
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The filing also says that the prison informant who testified at Wainwright’s trial confirmed last month that he and another informant testified in exchange for a light sentence.
Gayhart’s sister David said he felt he had been fooled by Hamilton’s death before the state executed him.
When she heard that the governor had signed a warrant for Wainwright’s death, she said she would “overwhelm the emotions.” Her parents die while waiting for Justice to serve, but she plans to be there to witness the final chapter of the family’s tragedy.
“There’s nothing to stop me from watching this all the time,” she said.
Her sister loved animals and surprised her with her training to become a nurse rather than a veterinarian, David said. Gay Hart was two years younger than him, but first became a mother, and David said he was amazed at the patience of his younger sister’s young children.
“She was here, she was important, she should be remembered, she was loved,” David said of Gay Heart.
For many years, David has held the book along with all court filings, from his first charge to his latest appeal.
“I look forward to getting his final document that he was executed to put in a book and that he would never have to think about Anthony Wainwright again,” she said.
Associated Press, by Kate Brumback
