The state of Florida witnessed his fifth execution of the year when James Phillip Barnes, 61, was executed by lethal injection for the 1997 murder of his wife and the brutal murder of a nurse years earlier..
Barnes was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. Thursday after receiving a lethal injection at the Florida State Prison in Raifordnorth of Florida, according to a spokesman for the Governor of Florida.
This execution marks the fifth in Florida since 2019, with a total of 104 executions carried out since capital punishment was reinstated in the state in 1976.
The decision came after the own Barnes will reject the filing of appeals and expressed his wish that the maximum sentence be applied, according to the AP agency.
Governor Ron DeSantis signed the warrant for Barnes’ execution on June 22. On the day of his execution, Barnes chose to forgo his last meal and did not receive visitors or the consolation of a spiritual adviser, as reported by Fox News.
Barnes was already serving a life sentence for the 1997 strangulation of his wife, Linda Barnes, when he made shocking claims in 2005 about the 1988 murder of nurse Patricia “Patsy” Miller.
Court hearings followed and Barnes, representing himself, pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Miller, who was 41 when she was brutally beaten to death with a hammer.
DNA evidence linked Barnes to Miller’s murder, leading to his death sentence on December 13, 2007. His wife’s murder was equally gruesome; was murdered after discovering Barnes’ involvement in the drug trade.
The state of Florida currently has 292 inmates on death row, including three women, according to Florida Department of Corrections records.
However, concerns about wrongful convictions persist. Since 1973, more than 190 people have been exonerated and released from death row in the United States; Florida has the highest number of exemptions with 30, followed by Illinois (22) and Texas (16).
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