77-Year-Old Curtis Beasley Executed by Lethal Injection in Florida
The Florida Supreme Court denied a last-minute request by Beasley's lawyers, allowing the execution to proceed. Beasley had been convicted of premeditated murder, robbery and auto theft after attacking a woman with a hammer. He became the 16th person executed in Florida and the seventh inmate over 70 to be put to death there. All executions in the United States so far have involved male inmates.
Curtis Beasley, a 77-year-old convicted of premeditated murder, robbery and vehicle theft, was executed by lethal injection after the Florida Supreme Court rejected a final appeal. The court's decision cleared the way for the state to carry out the sentence, making Beasley the 16th person executed in Florida and the seventh inmate over 70 to face capital punishment there. His case involved a 1995 hammer attack on a woman, for which he was sentenced to death.
The execution adds to a national tally of 29 executions, with Florida accounting for more than half. All individuals executed in the United States to date have been men. Meanwhile, Tennessee plans to carry out a death sentence on Christa Pike, a 50-year-old woman, which would mark the first female execution in that state in over two centuries.
