Overview

• Smithers, 72, was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. ET at Florida State Prison, and officials said the execution occurred without incident.
• He was convicted in 1999 of murdering Christy Cowan and Denise Roach in 1996, with both victims beaten, strangled and found in a pond on a Plant City property.
• The Florida Supreme Court last week rejected his claim that executing an elderly inmate is unconstitutional, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied a final appeal hours before the execution.
• This was Florida’s 14th execution this year, extending a new annual state record, with two additional executions scheduled in the coming weeks.
• He was the oldest person executed in Florida in the modern era, as the governor publicly defended the execution and advocacy groups held vigils and issued statements of opposition.