A cold-blooded Florida menace who slaughtered a teen girl was executed on Tuesday, marking the Sunshine State’s 14th execution this year.
Harold Gene Lucas, 74, was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. after taking a three-drug cocktail at Florida State Prison, near Starke. The decrepit killer was convicted of the 1976 murder of Jill Piper, 16, after she swatted away his romantic advances.
He was strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the curtain on the death chamber rose at 6 p.m.
When asked if he had any final remarks, Lucas told the warden: “No.”
The inmate began breathing heavily and gasping for air. Soon after he became unresponsive and a medic pronounced him dead.
Lucas didn’t file any last-minute appeals paving the way for his execution, telling a judge that “I’ve been on death row for 50 years, and I have no desire to carry this any further,” he told a judge, according to court transcripts.
“The sooner it’s over, the better I’ll enjoy it. I am tired.”
Harold Gene Lucas, 74, will be administered a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
The aging perv spent his final hours with his sister before having a last meal of steak and fries, prison officials said.
Lucas was hit with five death sentences by two different judges for gunning down Piper and wounding her two friends, Richard Byrd Jr. and Terri Rice.
Records show the killer was 24 when he was busted for trespassing at Piper’s Bonita Springs home in August 1976 — after the teen dumped him.
At the time, the age of consent in Florida was 18.
Lucas had spent four years around the girl and her family while working for them.
He had even told friends he planned to marry the teen.
A week after his trespassing arrest, while Piper was staying with Byrd and Rice for protection, Lucas fatally shot the teenager and wounded her friends.
Lester Piper, Jill’s brother, said he felt satisfied now that the legal process has come to an end.
“I don’t know if closure is the right word to use, but I do believe there’s a big sense of relief,” Lester Piper said after Lucas was put to death.
Law enforcement vehicles sit parked outside the Florida state prison on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Starke, Fla. AP Photo/David Fischer
Janice Rice, whose sister Terri was wounded in Lucas’ heinous attack, said she “survived that horrific night 50 years ago and lived with the trauma and pain for 44 years.”
“She wanted more than anything to be here today to witness justice for Jill, but God had other plans for her,” she said about Terri Rice, who died in 2020.
Florida’s state-leading 13th execution this year — which accounts for more than half of the 24 inmates put to death across the US — was carried out earlier this month as outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to purge the prison system’s death row.
In July, the Sunshine State executed two prisoners on death row in a single day, the first state in almost a decade.
Last year, Florida also led the way, accounting for 19 of the 47 people put to death across the US, including 19 prisoners by lethal injection.
DeSantis, a Republican, has signed more death warrants than any governor in the state’s history — and has tacked on two more scheduled for later this month.
The executions bring long-overdue justice to families who have waited decades to see their loved ones’ killers finally pay the ultimate price, he said.
With Post wires