Photo via Florida Department of Corrections
Jerry Correll, who was convicted for the 1985 stabbing to death his 5-year-old daughter, ex-wife, her sister and her mother in Orlando, has been sentenced by the state to die on Oct. 29.
Correll’s original execution date was set for February, but Correll received a stay from the Florida Supreme Court until the U.S. Supreme Court decided on the legality of midazolam, one of the three drugs used in the injection cocktail. After the Supreme Court upheld the use of midazolam in June, Attorney General Pam Bondi petitioned Florida’s highest court to vacate the stay, but her petition was rejected until a new hearing on his case. In September, the 9th Judicial rejected Correll's argument that the use of midazolam should be considered cruel and unusual punishment, clearing the way for the state to execute him.
Richard Glossip, the main plaintiff in the case the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed, was supposed to be executed by the state of Oklahoma last week, but his execution was called off after “last minute questions” from officials about the drugs they would use. Yesterday, The Oklahoman reported the state violated protocol by using the wrong drug to execute Charles Warner in January. If you recall from our story in July, Warner reportedly said during his execution, “My body is on fire.”
Oklahoma officials say they had been assured by a doctor and a pharmacist that potassium chloride, which they were supposed to use, is medically interchangeable with potassium acetate.
