Florida established a modern-era record for the number of executions in a single year Thursday night when Edward Zakrzewski was put to death for the 1994 killings of his wife and two children in their Okaloosa County home.
Zakrzewski, 60, was declared deceased in Florida State Prison at 6:12 p.m., the state Department of Corrections said. This year, he was the ninth prisoner to be executed by lethal injection. Two additional executions in August have death warrants signed by Governor Ron DeSantis.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied a last-ditch effort to spare Zakrzewski the day before Thursday’s execution.
After his wife requested a divorce, Zakrzewski was found guilty of killing his wife, Sylvia, their five-year-old daughter, Anna, and seven-year-old son, Edward, using a crowbar, rope, and machete. According to a Florida Supreme Court ruling, he went to Hawaii following the killings and resided there for four months before turning himself in. He admitted to the killings.
On July 1, DeSantis signed Zakrzewski’s death warrant. In 1984 and 2014, there were eight executions in a single year, which was the previous modern-era record. After a 1972 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court stopped executions, the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, marking the beginning of that era.
DeSantis also signed a death warrant for Kayle Bates, who was found guilty of killing a lady kidnapped from an insurance office in Bay County in 1982. Lawyers for Bates, whose execution date is set for August 19, have appealed to the Florida Supreme Court.
DeSantis also issued a death warrant this week for Curtis Windom, who was found guilty of the 1992 Orange County murders of three individuals. The execution of Windom is planned on August 28.
Zakrzewski’s lawyers centered their efforts on jury recommendations and a 1996 judge’s rulings that resulted in three death sentences in an attempt to stop Thursday’s execution.
The jury recommended death sentences for the killings of the 7-year-old boy and Sylvia Zakrzewski by a vote of 7–5. The jury’s decision to suggest Anna Zakrzewski’s murder was tied 6–6.
The jury verdict on the deadlock, which would have resulted in a single life sentence, was overturned by Circuit Judge G. Robert Barron. Additionally, most states that have the capital penalty require unanimous jury recommendations, but Florida law currently requires at least eight jurors to recommend death in order for such a sentence to be enforced.
Zakrzewski’s lawyers argued that it would be unconstitutional to execute him following the 7-5 recommendations and the override. However, the Florida Supreme Court and Circuit Judge Lacey Powell Clark of Okaloosa County dismissed the arguments. As is customary, the U.S. Supreme Court did not provide an explanation for its decision to not stop the execution on Wednesday.
This year, the state also sentenced Jeffrey Hutchinson on May 1, Glen Rogers on May 15, Michael Bell on July 15, Edward James on March 20, James Ford on February 13, Thomas Gudinas on June 24, Anthony Wainwright on June 10, and Michael Tanzi on April 8.
Jim Saunders, Florida News Service
