Overview
- Jennings, 66, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his final appeal on Wednesday.
- He was convicted of the 1979 abduction, sexual assault and killing of 6-year-old Rebecca Kunash, with court records citing shoe prints, fingerprints and other physical evidence.
- Two prior death sentences were reversed on appeal before a 1986 trial produced the current death sentence.
- Defense filings argued he went years without state postconviction counsel and has not had a clemency hearing since 1988, while the state said he had federal representation and that his claims lacked merit.
- If carried out, the execution would be Florida's record 16th this year, with two more executions set for Nov. 20 and Dec. 9 that could bring the 2025 total to 18.