Samuel Smithers, 72, was executed Tuesday evening at Florida State Prison in Raiford. File Photo by Paul Buck/EPA
Oct. 15 (UPI) — Florida on Tuesday executed a 72-year-old death row inmate for the 1996 murders of two women, as the state continues its record pace of executions.
Samuel Smithers was put to death by lethal injection, and pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. EDT Tuesday at Florida State Prison in Raiford, according to a statement from the Florida Department of Corrections.
Smithers is the 14th death-row inmate executed in Florida this year, a new record. The Sunshine State broke its previous high of eight, set in 2014, in August and has two more executions scheduled for the year.
He is also the oldest person to be executed by Florida in the modern era, which began with the resumption of executions in 1976.
Smithers’ defense lawyers argued that executing their client would constitute “cruel and unusual punishment because of his advanced age” — an argument the Supreme Court of Florida rejected last week, finding “no opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court or this Court has held that the elderly are categorically exempt from execution.”
The U.S. Supreme Court also denied Smithers’ final appeal hours before his 6 p.m.-scheduled execution.
Amnesty International USA and Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty were among anti-capital-punishment advocates who opposed Smithers’ execution.
“We killed an elderly man whose continued cognitive decline over his 30 years on death row was medically documented. We killed a man who posed absolutely no threat to anyone,” FADP said in a statement.
“Florida’s leaders insist that killing people and calling it justice somehow brings peace — that this relentless killing spree honors victims and families. It does not. It never has. It was a lie when it was told 30 years ago in this case and it remains a lie tonight.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, took to X to defend the execution, stating “Smithers was literally an axe murderer — he was convicted and sentenced to death for killing two women.”
Smithers was convicted and sentenced to death in 1999 for the murders of Christie Cowan and Denis Roach three years earlier.
According to court documents, Smithers was hired to maintain a 27-acre property in Plant City, Florida.
On May 28, 1996, the owner of the property spotted Smithers cleaning an axe and spotted a pool of blood in the carport. Smithers explained that a small animal must have been killed and that he would clean up the mess.
Concerned, the property owner contacted the local sheriff’s department, which, upon arrival found the blood had been cleaned up but later discovered Cowan floating in one of the property’s ponds. A dive team later discovered Roach’s body.
Court documents state that DNA and surveillance footage linked him to the crime, and after providing authorities with inconsistent statements, he confessed to killing both women.
During trial, the medical examiner said Roach had been in the pond between seven to 10 days before her discovery, while Cowan had only been dead a couple of hours.
Both women were strangled and sustained chop wounds, the medical examiner testified.
Court documents state that Smithers blamed both murders on an unknown man.
Smithers is one of two death-row inmates to be executed on Tuesday.
In Missouri, Lance Shockley was executed for the 2005 murder of a state highway patrol office.
With Tuesday’s executions, the United States has seen 37 executions so far this calendar year.