"John Henry scheduled for execution at 6 p.m. Wednesday," is by Jon Silman for the Tampa Bay Times.
A federal appeals court has rejected a bid to delay the execution of John Ruthell Henry, who is scheduled to be executed at 6 tonight at the Florida State Prison in Raiford.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta issued an opinion late Tuesday, said capital cases clerk Jan Camp. Only the U.S. Supreme Court could now delay Henry's execution, Camp added.
Henry was sentenced to death for murdering his wife in Zephyrhills in 1985.
Defense attorney Baya Harrison, who filed the appeal over the weekend, has argued that Henry, 63, is mentally disabled and should not be put to death under the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Henry has been on death row for 27 years.
"Florida set to execute killer of 3, including boy," is AP coverage, via the Palm Beach Post.
Florida was set Wednesday to execute a Tampa area man who killed his estranged wife and her young son in 1985, two years after he had been paroled for murdering his previous spouse.
John Ruthell Henry, 63, was scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 6 p.m. EDT for the stabbing death of his wife, Suzanne Henry, in Pasco County. He also was convicted in Hillsborough County of stabbing Suzanne Henry's 5-year-old son, Eugene Christian, near Plant City, hours after Suzanne's murder.
It would be the 13th execution in Florida since April 2013 and the 18th since Gov. Rick Scott took office in 2011. On Wednesday, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Henry's last-ditch effort to postpone the execution. He could still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it has rarely halted Florida executions.
AP also posts, "5 things to know about Florida executions." It's via the Danbury News Times.
THE METHOD: Florida uses a three-drug mixture of midazolam hydrochloride, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride. The drugs are administered intravenously and are intended to induce unconsciousness, paralysis and cardiac arrest. Midazolam, a sedative used before surgeries, has been used in the three-drug mixture since 2013. Previously, sodium thiopental was used, but its U.S. manufacturer stopped making it and Europe banned its manufacturers from exporting it for executions.
Florida has carried out five executions this year; a total of 86 post-Furman executions since 1979.
Earlier coverage from Florida begins at the link. Florida's last execution took place days before Oklahoma's botched execution.
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