Lucas waived appeals after 50 years on death row, citing exhaustion
Harold Gene Lucas, 74, was scheduled to be executed by three-drug lethal injection beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Florida State Prison near Starke, according to the Associated Press. If carried out, he would become the 14th prisoner put to death in Florida this year.
Lucas was convicted of fatally shooting a 16-year-old girl who rejected his romantic advances and wounding two of her friends. He has been on Florida’s death row for 50 years.
He chose not to file appeals with the Florida Supreme Court or the U.S. Supreme Court. He told a circuit judge after his death warrant was issued that he wanted to waive all post-conviction proceedings, and the judge granted his request several days later.
“I’ve been on death row for 50 years, and I have no desire to carry this any further,” Lucas told the judge, according to court transcripts. “The sooner it’s over, the better I’ll enjoy it. I am tired.”
Lucas’s execution is the first of three lethal injections scheduled in Florida this month. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed death warrants for two additional executions later in September, according to the Associated Press.
The execution would bring to 14 the number of prisoners put to death in Florida this year, according to the Associated Press.
The Associated Press reported the story from Miami.