A Florida man was executed for the murders of his girlfriend, her mother and a man he claimed owed him $2,000 in 1992 despite the pleas of victim’s daughter to halt his death.
Curtis Windom, 59, was put to death by lethal injection at Florida State Prison while his daughter, who he shared with one of his victims, pleads for his forgiveness.
Windom received the death sentence for the murders of Johnnie Lee, Valerie Davis, and Mary Lubin in Winter Garden, an area in Orlando, on November 7, 1992.
Windom’s last meal on Thursday consisted of ribs, baked beans, collard greens, potato salad, pie, ice cream, and a soda, Florida Department of Corrections spokesman Ted Veerman said, ABC 13 reported.
His face was obscured by a sheet as the curtain lifted and his last words were unintelligible by the witness.
He took several deep breaths as the drugs were injected, his legs twitched several times, and he was pronounced dead at 6.17pm, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
According to prosecutors, Lee had supposedly owed Windom $2,000.
After a friend told Windom that Lee had won $114 at a greyhounds racetrack, he told the friend, ‘You’re gonna read about me’ and that he planned to kill him.
Curtis Windom, 59, was put to death by lethal injection at Florida State Prison
Windom (left) and Davis’s daughter, Curtisia Windom (right), said she forgave her father and petitioned for his execution to be halted
The killer’s last meal on Thursday consisted of ribs, baked beans, collard greens, potato salad, pie, ice cream, and a soda
According to court documents obtained by ABC News, Windom went to a Walmart and bought a .38-caliber revolver and a box of 50 shells.
Windom then drove to Lee and shot him twice in the back of his car.
Afterward, he went to Davis’s apartment and fatally shot his girlfriend ‘with no provocation’ in front of a friend, ABC reported.
Windom shot and injured another man in an unplanned attack, which landed him a 22-year sentence for attempted murder.
He then ran into Davis’s mother, Lubin, who had drove over to her daughter’s apartment. Lubin was shot twice in her car at a stop sign.
Windom and Davis’s daughter, Curtisia Windom, campaigned against her fathers execution and told the Orlando Sentinel: ‘It hurt. It hurt a lot. Life was not easy growing up.’
‘But if we could forgive him, I don’t see why people on the street who haven’t been through our pain have a right to say he should die,’ she continued.
His daughter said in a statement from an anti-death penalty group that delivered more than 5,000 petition signatures to the governor this week, urging for intervention: ‘Forgiveness comes with time, and 33 years is a long time. I, myself, have forgiven my father.’
Windom (right) received the death sentence for the murders of Johnnie Lee, Valerie Davis (left), and Mary Lubin in Winter Garden, an area in Orlando, on November 7, 1992
Windom’s execution marked Florida’s 11th person killed on death row and the 30th in the country so far this year
Mary Lubin (left) and Johnnie Lee (right) were among Windom’s victims in the 1992 murders
However, Davis’s sister, Kemene Hunter, said she supported his execution to give closure to his victim’s families, WFTV reported.
His execution marked Florida’s 11th person killed on death row and the 30th in the country so far this year.
In a news conference after his execution, Hunter wore a t-shirt that read ‘Justice for her, healing for me.’
‘All I want to say is, it took 33 years to get some closure,’ Hunter said, adding ‘Vengeance is mine says the lord.’
Numerous appeals had been made to halt Windom’s execution, with his lawyers claiming he had mental problems that should have been taken into account during his trial.
His final appeal had been rejected on Wednesday by the US Supreme Court, the Sentinel reported.
Florida has led the country with a series of death warrants signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The next death row inmate set to be put to death is 63-year-old David Joseph Pittman on September 17.