STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A person convicted of raping and killing a lady three many years in the past after kidnapping her from a grocery store car parking zone was executed Tuesday in Florida.
Anthony Wainwright, 54, obtained a deadly injection at Florida State Jail close to Starke. He was convicted within the April 1994 killing of 23-year-old Carmen Gayheart, a nursing scholar and mom of two younger kids, in Lake Metropolis.
The execution started about 6:10 p.m. Wainwright’s shoulders shuddered a few instances, and he blinked and took a number of deep breaths earlier than changing into nonetheless at 6:14 p.m.
Wainwright was pronounced lifeless at 6:22 p.m., in response to Byran Griffin, a spokesman for Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Wainwright made a remaining assertion, however the phrases have been inaudible from the witness room.
He’s the sixth particular person put to loss of life in Florida this 12 months, and one other execution is scheduled for later this month. The state executed six folks in 2023, however solely carried out one execution final 12 months. There have been 4 executions scheduled across the nation this week, together with one other one on Tuesday in Alabama. A brief keep was issued Monday for an execution scheduled for Thursday in Oklahoma.
Richard Hamilton was additionally convicted in Gayheart’s killing and sentenced to loss of life. However he died on loss of life row in January 2023 on the age of 59.
Gayheart’s sister mentioned earlier than the execution that three many years was too lengthy to attend for justice.
“It’s ridiculous what number of appeals they get,” Maria David informed The Related Press, including that every step of the appeals course of reopened her household’s wounds. “It’s important to relive it once more as a result of they’ve to inform the entire story once more.”
Wainwright and Hamilton escaped from jail in North Carolina, stole a inexperienced Cadillac and burglarized a house the subsequent morning, taking weapons and cash. Then they drove to Florida and when the Cadillac started to have issues in Lake Metropolis, they determined to steal one other automobile.
They confronted Gayheart, a group school scholar, on April 27, 1994, as she loaded groceries into her blue Ford Bronco, in response to court docket paperwork. They pressured her into the automobile at gunpoint and drove off. They raped her within the backseat after which took her out of the automobile and tried to strangle her earlier than taking pictures her twice at the back of the top, court docket filings say. They dragged her physique a number of dozen yards from the highway and drove off.
The 2 males have been arrested in Mississippi the subsequent day after a shootout with police.
A jury in 1995 convicted Wainwright of homicide, kidnapping, theft and rape and unanimously beneficial that he be sentenced to loss of life.
“It closes the authorized chapter, that’s all,” David informed reporters after the execution was carried out. “I’ll carry this with me for the remainder of my life. I’ll by no means recover from what occurred to Carmen.”
David, who witnessed the execution, mentioned she “simply stored considering what he did to my sister.” She mentioned 17 members of the family have been witnesses, together with Gayheart’s husband, son and mother-in-law.
About two dozen family and friends, most carrying “Justice for Carmen Gayheart” T-shirts, embraced one another as they piled out of automobiles in a subject close to the jail for a information convention afterward.
Gayheart’s mother-in-law, Gale Gayheart, known as Wainwright a “coward” and mentioned “he was lastly delivered to justice immediately.” She added that she wished members of the family who’ve handed away might have been there immediately to have that sense of closure.
Wainwright’s attorneys filed a number of unsuccessful appeals over time primarily based on what they mentioned have been issues together with his trial and proof that he suffered from mind harm and mental incapacity.
As soon as his execution was scheduled, his attorneys argued in state and federal court docket filings that his execution ought to be placed on maintain to permit time for courts to listen to further authorized arguments in his case.
In a submitting with the U.S. Supreme Court docket, his attorneys argued that his case was “marred by vital, systemic failures at nearly each stage and thru the signing of his loss of life warrant.” These failures embrace flawed DNA proof that wasn’t disclosed to the protection till after opening statements, inaccurate jury directions, inflammatory and inaccurate closing arguments and missteps by court-appointed attorneys, the submitting says.
The submitting additionally mentioned {that a} jailhouse informant who testified at Wainwright’s trial lastly admitted final month that he and one other informant had testified in change for lighter sentences, a incontrovertible fact that had not been disclosed to the protection.
The Supreme Court docket on Monday denied Wainwright’s a number of of his remaining appeals with out remark.
His attorneys filed a last-minute effort to hunt a keep of execution Tuesday morning, specializing in claims that he was improperly barred from hiring a lawyer of his alternative below state legislation. The excessive court docket denied his request simply earlier than the execution started within the night.
Wainwright’s was considered one of two executions carried out Tuesday within the nation. In Alabama, Gregory Hunt, 65, was put to loss of life by nitrogen fuel for the 1988 killing of Karen Lane.
David mentioned her sister liked animals and shocked her by coaching to change into a nurse slightly than a veterinarian, David mentioned. Gayheart was two years youthful than her sister however turned a mom first, and David mentioned she marveled at her sister’s persistence together with her younger kids.
“Carmen was a faithful spouse, mom, sister, daughter, pal,” David mentioned after the execution, including that it was Wainwright’s decisions that “led us thus far immediately.”
Over time, she has stored a e-book the place she put each court docket submitting, from the preliminary indictment via the newest appeals.
“I’m wanting ahead to getting the final items of paperwork that say he’s been executed to place into the e-book and by no means having to consider Anthony Wainwright ever once more,” David mentioned.
