{"id":4781,"date":"2025-10-15T13:50:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T13:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/4781\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T13:50:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T13:50:06","slug":"floridas-14th-execution-in-2025-samuel-lee-smithers-put-to-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/4781\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida\u2019s 14th execution in 2025: Samuel Lee Smithers put to death"},"content":{"rendered":"

Samuel Lee Smithers, 72, was executed by lethal injection Tuesday evening at Florida State Prison, marking the state\u2019s 14th execution of 2025, a new record, the Associated Press reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Smithers was convicted in 1999 of two counts of first-degree murder for the 1996 slayings of Christy Cowan and Denise Roach, AP said. Prosecutors said he lured each woman from a Tampa motel to a rural property in Plant City, where they were beaten, strangled and their bodies dumped in a pond. <\/p>\n

According to WSMV 4<\/a>, at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, officials pronounced Smithers dead after his execution by lethal injection. He declined to make a final statement, responding merely \u201cNo, sir\u201d when asked.<\/p>\n

His defense had argued his advanced age, 72, and possible health concerns should bar execution, but the Florida Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene, AP reported.<\/p>\n

His execution extends Florida\u2019s lead among U.S. states in carrying out capital punishment this year. The state has already scheduled two more executions under death warrants signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, WNDU reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Smithers had paid Cowan and Roach for sex. At the time of the killings, he was doing landscape maintenance on a 27-acre property with three ponds, according to WNDU.<\/p>\n

On May 28, 1996, the property owner stopped by to find Smithers cleaning an ax, which he claimed to be using to trim tree limbs. The property owner saw a pool of blood in the carport where Smithers was cleaning the ax, and Smithers told her someone must have come by and killed a small animal, WNDU said.<\/p>\n

Norman M. Grim Jr. is scheduled for Florida\u2019s 15th<\/a> execution on Tuesday, Oct. 28.<\/p>\n

According to AP<\/a>, in 2000, Grim was convicted of the 1998 murder and sexual battery of his next-door neighbor, Cynthia Campbell, in Santa Rosa County, Florida. Campbell was reported missing on July 27, 1998, and her body was discovered later that day near the Pensacola Bay Bridge.<\/p>\n

An autopsy revealed she had suffered several blunt-force injuries to her face and head, consistent with being struck by a hammer, as well as 11 stab wounds to her chest, seven of which penetrated her heart. DNA evidence linked Grim to the crime, leading to his conviction.<\/p>\n

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