Florida Killer Executed

August 6, 2013

John Errol Ferguson, who was convicted of murdering eight people in the 1970s but whose lawyers argued that he wasn’t sane enough to be put to death, was executed by lethal injection Monday at Florida State Prison near Starke.

Ferguson, 65, was sentenced to death for the 1977 murders of six Carol City residents who were killed execution style following a drug-related robbery. Six months later, Ferguson abducted and killed a pair of high-school students in Hialeah.

The execution was set by Gov. Rick Scott on July 23 after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a stay that had been issued last year because of questions about Ferguson’s sanity.

Attorneys argued that Ferguson’s execution would violate the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, contending that an individual must have a rational understanding of why he is being put to death.

Comments

8 Responses to “Florida Killer Executed”

  1. perdido fisherman on August 7th, 2013 6:56 pm

    Darko, I sure hope so. I’m for bringing back the noose out back of the courthouse for the ones where there is no doubt their guilty. Stop wasting money on the condemed.

  2. Darko Sladovic on August 7th, 2013 9:02 am

    That means Leonard Gonzalez, Jr. moves a little closer to the head of the line.

  3. Really? on August 7th, 2013 7:34 am

    almost 40 years on the tax payers back…

    Something is broken…but we all know that…

  4. David Huie Green on August 6th, 2013 4:20 pm

    If Scott keeps this up, I may have to consider voting for him.
    Think of all the governors before him who considered it reasonable to delay justice in this case.

    David for justice not denied

  5. mick on August 6th, 2013 11:28 am

    It’s a slap in the face to the victim’s families that they have to wait for a sentence to be carried out…if overwhelming and irrefutable evidence has been presented and the accused has been convicted and received the death penalty, the max they should sit on deat row is maybe six months, and thats being overly humane and generous…think about the premeditated and almost instananeous decisions the scumbags make when they decide to take innocent lives… The justice system is much too lenient with regard to the rights of criminals, while the victims and their families take a back seat when it comes to justice…

  6. bigR on August 6th, 2013 7:50 am

    I’m sure that after 35 years of being locked up he knows what he is being punished for

  7. KT on August 6th, 2013 4:28 am

    Is it just me or is this ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS that it took this long to execute a CONVICTED KILLER!! GEEZZZ I can barely support myself, much less every convicted KILLER in America! I heard someone say the other day “if we went back to hanging criminals right after trial we would see the crime rate drop”!!

  8. TaxiT. on August 6th, 2013 2:09 am

    I,m just saying.35 years ago he may have understood alot better. I,m not saying he didn,t understand at any time. But I sure don,t understand all (years)r being found guilty and sentenced.