STARKE, Fla. (WWSB) – A man convicted of killing two women whose bodies were found in a rural pond in 1996 was put to death Tuesday evening in a record 14th execution this year in Florida.
Samuel Lee Smithers, 72, was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, the office of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said. Smithers was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1999.
When asked if he had a final statement, Smithers said, “No sir,” according to DeSantis spokesman Alex Lanfranconi. He said there were no complications.
Smithers’ death extended Florida’s record for total executions in a single year, with the state planning to carry out two more executions later this month and next. Since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, the highest previous annual total of Florida executions was eight in 2014.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, the highest previous annual total of Florida executions was eight in 2014. Florida has executed more people than any other state this year, followed by Texas with five.
Smithers was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1999.
His was one of two executions scheduled for Tuesday evening in the U.S. Lance Shockley, 48, was set to be executed in Missouri for fatally shooting a state trooper more than 20 years ago.
Court records indicate Smithers met Christy Cowan and Denise Roach on different dates in May 1996 at a Tampa motel to pay them for sex. At the time, he was doing landscape maintenance on a 27-acre property that included three ponds in rural Plant City.
On May 28, 1996, the property owner — who had met Smithers in church where he was a Baptist deacon — stopped by to find Smithers cleaning an ax in the carport, which he claimed to be using to trim tree limbs. The property owner noticed a pool of blood in the carport, and Smithers told her that someone must have come by and killed a small animal, according to court records.
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