Florida executes man in 1994 killing of wife, 2 kids; sets new death sentence state record

ORLANDO, Fla. - The state of Florida has executed a man convicted of killing his wife and two children over 30 years ago on Thursday.

This execution marked the ninth inmate put to death by lethal injection this year, setting a modern-era record. The previous highest number of executions in a single year in Florida since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976 was eight, recorded in 2014.

A death warrant signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis directed that 60-year-old Edward Zakrzewski be executed on Thursday by lethal injection. Zakrzewski was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, officials said.

Florida man brutally murdered his family

The backstory:

Zakrzewski was sentenced to death for the 1994 murders of his wife and two children in their Okaloosa County home. 

According to court testimony, Zakrzewski’s wife, Sylvia, was attacked first with a crowbar and strangled with a rope. Both children, their 7-year-old son, Edward, and 5-year-old daughter, Anna, were killed with a machete. Sylvia was also struck with the blade when Zakrzewski thought she had survived the previous assault, according to court records.

A jury voted 7-5 to recommend death sentences in the murders of Zakrzewski’s wife and son; however, the jury was deadlocked 6-6 in its recommendation regarding the murder of Zakrzewski’s daughter.

Circuit Judge G. Robert Barron, however, overrode the jury decision on the deadlock, which otherwise would have led to one life sentence. 

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On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an eleventh-hour attempt to halt Zakrzewski’s execution. Attorneys representing Zakrzewski’ argued that the court should block his execution, citing that Florida "is an extreme outlier when it comes to capital punishment."

‘A stay of his execution is not merited’

What they're saying:

"Review of Zakrzewski’s petition (by the U.S. Supreme Court) would be unworthy under normal circumstances, much less on the eve of an execution," the state’s attorneys wrote in a document filed Monday. "Further, he has been given decades more process than he has been due, given the death sentences he earned for brutally murdering his wife and the unthinkable, murdering of his two young children with a machete. A stay of his execution is not merited."

Big picture view:

In Florida, the law requires that at least eight jurors recommend death for such a sentence to be imposed, while almost all other states that have the death penalty require unanimous jury recommendations.

Who has been executed in Florida this year so far?

Dig deeper:

The state this year has executed Michael Bell on July 15; Thomas Gudinas on June 24; Anthony Wainwright on June 10; Glen Rogers on May 15; Jeffrey Hutchinson on May 1; Michael Tanzi on April 8; Edward James on March 20; and James Ford on Feb. 13.

More executions scheduled for August

What's next:

There are two other executions that are pending in August.

Kayle Barrington Bates is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Aug. 19 for the 1982 murder of a woman in Bay County. 

Curtis Windom, who was convicted of killing three people in 1992 in Orange County, is scheduled to be executed Aug. 28 at the Florida State Prison.

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