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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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Central Florida man arrested after Miami Beach hit-and-run crash leaves 2 pedestrians dead, police say

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Central Florida man arrested after Miami Beach hit-and-run crash leaves 2 pedestrians dead, police say



A central Florida man has been arrested after Miami Beach police say he hit and killed two pedestrians on Collins Avenue and then fled the scene on Wednesday night.

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Miami Beach police said that around 9:07 p.m., a black Nissan Sentra, which was being driven by Adan Negron-Morris, 42, of Lakeland, was spotted heading eastbound on 71st Street toward Collins Avenue in a reckless manner, and without the vehicle’s headlights on.

Negron-Mossis ended up speeding past a Miami Beach police officer who was conducting a high-visibility patrol detail in the area of Indian Creek Drive, and that officer was attempting to respond just as several 911 calls were being made about a reckless driver in the area, police said.

Negron-Morris then turned left onto Collins Avenue, and police said he eventually hit two pedestrians at the intersection of 73rd Street and Collins Avenue.

Miami Beach police said the vehicle continued to 74th Street and Collins Avenue and came to a stop. At that point, police said Negron-Morris got out of the car and fled into a nearby Walgreens.

Witnesses were able to direct responding police officers to Negron-Morris’s location, and he was taken into custody.

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Police said that oofficers in the area immediately began to render aid to the two pedestrians who were hit until Miami beach Fire Rescue could arrive at the scene. Both victims were then rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in critical condition, where they later died.

Miami Beach police said that a DUI investigation was immediately launched after the incident, and Negron-Morris was taken to the Miami Beach Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division.

Negron-Morris has since been charged with leaving the scene of a crash with death and vehicular manslaughter.



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Florida Gov. DeSantis criticizes sheriffs who want undocumented immigration reform

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Florida Gov. DeSantis criticizes sheriffs who want undocumented immigration reform


TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis rebuked some of Florida’s top law enforcement officials Thursday, criticizing their calls to Congress and President Donald Trump to work on a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants.

“This idea that unless you’re an axe murderer you should be able to stay, that is not consistent with our laws, and it’s also not good policy,” DeSantis said at an event in Bradenton.

[WATCH: State Immigration Enforcement Council meeting (via The Florida Channel)]

On Monday, the State Immigration Enforcement Council, a group of local law enforcement officials who were appointed to advise the State Board of Immigration Enforcement on illegal immigration enforcement, decided to send a letter to federal government officials asking them to work on a path to citizenship for noncriminal undocumented immigrants who pay a fine.

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“My job as governor is to do what’s best for the people, not what any one person who gets elected in one county thinks,” DeSantis said.

[WATCH: DeSantis unveils an aggressive immigration and border security policy (from 2023)]

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, chair of the council, said Monday that immigrants who aren’t criminals should be able to stay in the country, under certain conditions. Other council members, like Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri and Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell, agreed with him.

“What’s right’s right, and what’s not’s not,” Gualtieri said at the meeting, “And going after the mom, who’s got three kids, who’s just trying to make a living, who’s been here for 15 years…that isn’t right, and they do need to fix it.”

DeSantis said Florida has become the national standard for illegal immigration enforcement after enacting legislation and pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into law enforcement, state-run detention facilities, and working directly with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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“Who does (border czar) Tom Homan cite as the way to do this? He cites Florida without hesitation,” DeSantis said. “We’ve got to keep the momentum going, we certainly don’t want to backtrack on this.”

Judd and Gualtieri, two of the four sheriffs on the council, have consulted DeSantis and the legislature over the past couple of years about local law enforcement’s role in illegal immigration enforcement.

[WATCH: DeSantis outlines immigration priorities ahead of Trump’s new presidency (from 2025)]

The switch to advocating for a path for citizenship is a 180-degree turn for Judd. Last year in a council meeting, Judd asked Trump to sign more executive orders to allow state law enforcement to expedite the removal of undocumented immigrants, including those who do not have removal orders or criminal records.

But on Monday, Judd suggested writing a letter to elected officials, including Trump, the Speaker of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate Majority Leader, and federal agencies to work on a path to citizenship.

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All council members except Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters, who was not at the meeting, agreed.

“There are those here that are working hard, they have kids in college, are in school, they’re going to church on Sunday, they’re not violating the law, and they’re living the American dream,” Judd told council members.

After receiving backlash for his comments, at a press conference the day after the meeting, Judd said he heard from sheriffs across the state who called him in support.

The sheriff, who stood his ground and again called for the federal government to work on a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants, calling it “common sense.”

“They’re not a drag on society. In fact, they’re helping society. We need to find a path for them,” Judd said.

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[WATCH: Sheriff Judd calls on feds to pull back mass deportation campaign]



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Florida’s Red Wall on Immigration Is Starting to Crack

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Florida’s Red Wall on Immigration Is Starting to Crack


Cracks are widening in the Republican Party’s support for the Trump administration’s hardline approach to immigration enforcement. The latest fissure developed this week in deep-red Florida. A panel of Republican sheriffs and chiefs of police, the backbone of Florida’s law enforcement establishment, agreed on Monday to draft a letter to President Donald Trump and congressional leaders urging them to stop rounding up immigrants who they said arrived in the U.S. “inappropriately” but have otherwis



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