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Florida execution to be nation’s 2nd today, 4th this week. What to know about the case.

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Florida execution to be nation’s 2nd today, 4th this week. What to know about the case.



Edward Thomas James is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday for the brutal rapes and murders of a woman and her granddaughter. It’ll follow a morning execution in Oklahoma.

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A Florida death row inmate is set to become the fourth man executed in the U.S. this week and the 10th so far this year.

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Edward Thomas James, 63, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday for the brutal 1993 murders of 58-year-old Elizabeth “Betty” Dick and her 8-year-old granddaughter, Toni Neuner, who was raped.

James’ execution is expected to come about seven hours after the scheduled execution of Wendell Arden Grissom in Oklahoma for a home-invasion murder. It also comes two days after Louisiana executed Jessie Hoffman by nitrogen gas on Tuesday and a day after Arizona put Aaron Gunches to death by lethal injection on Wednesday.

If his execution moves forward, James will be the second inmate to be executed in Florida this year and the 10th in the U.S.

“This defendant deserves no more mercy than that he showed his two victims,” trial prosecutor Tom Hastings told jurors in 1995, according to an archived Associated Press story.

Although James has previously said he deserves to be executed, his attorneys have recently been fighting to save his life.

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Here’s what you need to know about James’ execution, including why his attorneys say he deserves to be spared.

What did Edward Thomas James do?

On the night of Sept. 20, 1993, Betty Dick was at home in the metro Orlando city of Casselberry with four of her grandchildren, who were between the ages of 2 and 10, when James arrived. He had been renting a room in Dick’s home for about six months and had known the family for years, according to archived news stories.

Drunk and high on crack and possibly LSD, James apparently snapped, grabbing a sleeping 8-year-old Toni Neuner, strangling and brutally raping her before he threw her lifeless body behind his bed. He told detectives that he remembered thinking, “Eddie, this ain’t no fun … I’ll get me a grown woman.”

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He then went to Dick’s bedroom, where he admitted to bludgeoning her, attempting to rape her and then stabbing her 23 times before fleeing the state with her purse, jewelry and car − setting off a frantic manhunt.

James confessed to the crimes after he was recognized on the “America’s Most Wanted” television show and captured in California following a 17-day manhunt. He has always acknowledged his guilt and has even said he deserves the death penalty.

“I don’t want to die but I do believe it’s the proper penalty for what I committed,” he said in court in 2003, according to an archived story in the Orlando Sentinel newspaper. “From now until the time they execute me, I’m just going to exist, come as close to peace with what I did … I feel in my heart that I’m doing the right thing.”

Who were Betty Dick and Toni Neuner?

Betty Dick’s children told the Orlando Sentinel that their mother took James in out of the goodness of her heart and that no one in the family would have ever suspected him capable of murder.

That was just who Dick was: a loving grandmother always looking out for others, they said, adding that it was a struggle for her other grandchildren to understand what happened to her and Toni, described by her aunt as an outgoing girl who was inseparable from her older sister Wendi, who was in the home the night of the murders and tried to intervene before James tied her up.

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“She’s got a lot of anger inside of her,” her aunt, Brenda Teed, told the newspaper. “It’s unbelievable what she watched happen. She thinks if she could have gotten up sooner, she could’ve saved them.”

She said that the family told Dick’s other grandchildren that “Grandma and Toni are in heaven, but they don’t understand why.”

“We tell them they can go outside and wave at the stars and they’ll be waving at Grandma,” she told the Sentinel.

As for James, she told the newspaper that they just wanted to understand why he did what he did.

“I’m angry as hell. I’m having a hard time believing in God,” Teed said. “We have to live with the images the rest of our lives of what he did to them.”

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When and where will James be executed?

James is set to be executed just after 6 p.m. ET at the Florida State Prison in Raiford, about 40 miles west of Jacksonville.

What are James’ attorneys arguing?

James’ attorneys have been arguing that he isn’t fit for execution because he has experienced significant cognitive decline in recent years, to the point that he can’t remember simple words and loses track of conversations.

“He does not remember the homicides or his behavior leading up to them. However, he desired to be punished and even executed throughout the years,” psychologist Yenys Castillo wrote after evaluating James. “It is unclear whether Mr. James truly appreciated the seriousness and finality of being sentenced to die during his initial penalty phase and postconviction proceedings, and these competency concerns persist into the present day.”

In a recent court filing, his attorneys said that James pleaded guilty to the murders “despite a glaring lack of memory of the crimes,” adding that he suffers from “a nearly lifelong history of substance abuse, clear signs of mental illness, and memory impairment including indicators of early-onset dementia.”

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His condition makes executing him cruel and unusual punishment, which is a violation of his constitutional rights, his attorneys have argued.

So far, all courts have rejected those arguments and little is standing in the way of James’ execution.



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Haiden Deegan arrested in Walton County, Florida, for street racing, stunt driving

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Haiden Deegan arrested in Walton County, Florida, for street racing, stunt driving


On Friday night, Haiden Deegan was arrested in Walton County and booked at 11:29 p.m. for violating street racing and stunt driving laws. He was released at 1:23 a.m. Saturday after posting a $1,000 cash / professional bond. The incident occurred at 9:58 p.m.

Deegan posted the booking history as an Instagram story, which disappear 24 hours after posting. Deegan apparently altered the screenshot with the notation “Certified stunt driver” and a laughing emoji.

Deegan currently leads the Monster Energy 250 West championship by 12 points over Julien Beaumer.

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UConn, Dan Hurley will be underdogs vs. Florida, but Huskies still have some fight left

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UConn, Dan Hurley will be underdogs vs. Florida, but Huskies still have some fight left


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RALEIGH, N.C. – In the moments after his team survived a 67-59 rock fight of a first-round NCAA men’s basketball tournament game against Oklahoma, UConn coach Dan Hurley boiled the emotions down to the simplest possible terms.

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“It feels normal,” Hurley told CBS’ Tracy Wolfson.

Well, yeah. In a way.

UConn, the back-to-back national champions, won a 13th straight NCAA Tournament game. That’s normal.

But the ugly, grinding way the Huskies needed to get it done?

Not normal – maybe in a good way.

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“As much as our defense has plagued us throughout the year, it advanced us today,” Hurley said.

Also not normal? On Sunday, 8th-seeded UConn will be an underdog against No. 1 Florida. A big one. And if you read between the lines, it’s perhaps why Hurley was so proud to get out of the first round the way they did Friday.

Most likely, it’s coming to an end. And nobody knows that better than him.

“I think there’s honor in getting to the round of 32 and making someone put you down to end this run we’ve been on,” Hurley said. “If it wasn’t for all my antics and viral moments there would be more focus on what we’ve accomplished. It’s been an amazing run.”

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The reason Hurley sounded like he was talking in the past tense is because he understands what he’s up against in Florida. When he watches the Gators, he sees a lot of what UConn had the last two years.

The multiple big men who crush you on the glass. The perimeter depth and waves of shooting. The relentlessness and precision in the way they execute. The aura and swagger of a team that knows it’s peaking at exactly the right time, almost on the exact same timeline as the Huskies two years ago when they were the trendy pick to win the title even though they hadn’t done it yet under Hurley.

Florida and 39-year-old coach Todd Golden still haven’t proven it. Maybe that gives the Huskies a chance. Maybe.

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“The championship pedigree is still there for us,” Hurley said. “There’s a belief in the UConn jersey this time of year. Someone is going to have to put us down for us to go away.”

You saw a little of that against Oklahoma. UConn tried and tried to build a comfortable lead, couldn’t quite get it to double-figures, then watched it disappear completely as Sooners freshman guard Jeremiah Fears started to get rolling.

But with 3:39 remaining, one of the last remaining pieces of that championship pedigree made the shot that mattered. A bit earlier, Alex Karaban had passed up a 3-pointer in the corner only to get an earful from Hurley coming back to the bench for a timeout.

“I told him to shoot the (expletive) ball,” Hurley said.

“I wasn’t going to make that mistake again,” Karaban said.

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And so with 3:39 left, even though he was a couple of steps behind the 3-point line, Karaban saw an opening and Fears coming a little too late to contest. So he let it fly. It hit the bottom of the net for a 60-56 lead, and that was all UConn needed on a night it went 6-of-25 from deep.

“When you play teams at this level, which is the best of the best in the tournament, the windows are tighter,” Hurley said. “You’re not going to get the perfect shot. The only way we’re going to win the game, especially with the way Liam (McNeeley) was shooting (1-for-8 from three), they were both struggling. We were on life-support and we needed one of them to step up and make some shots, and it was Alex.”

So UConn moves on. Probably just for two more days.

But after a season of angst and “suffering,” as Hurley put it, just to get to this point and win a first-round game was meaningful. Even for a coach whose mind is wired for perfection, it certainly sounded like it was enough.



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FHP, ICE discuss arrest of alleged gang member in Florida

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FHP, ICE discuss arrest of alleged gang member in Florida


Officials from the Florida Highway Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are discussing the arrest of Franklin Jose Jimenez-Bracho, a citizen of Venezuela and alleged gang member of Tren de Aragua. Formed in a Venezuelan prison, the gang has branched out to become a multinational crime organization. Bracho’s arrest is the first arrest in the nation under the Alien Enemies Act.



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