Overview
- Jennings, 66, was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison after a three-drug lethal injection, according to corrections officials.
- He was condemned for abducting 6-year-old Rebecca Kunash from her Merritt Island bedroom in 1979; investigators cited matching shoe prints, fingerprints on a windowsill, wet clothing and his post-arrest statements.
- Earlier convictions in 1980 and 1982 were overturned on appeal, and a 1986 retrial produced the final conviction and death sentence, with additional life terms for related crimes.
- The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a petition and stay request after the Florida Supreme Court rejected arguments that Jennings lacked continuous state postconviction counsel and was denied clemency review.
- Governor Ron DeSantis has authorized more executions in a single year than any Florida governor since 1976, with two additional Florida executions scheduled for Nov. 20 and Dec. 9.