One of the longest-held inmates on Florida’s death row is set to be executed Thursday for two separate killings in 1984.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — One of the longest-held inmates on Florida’s death row is set to be executed Thursday for two separate killings in 1984, the fatal stabbing of a 14-year-old babysitter as two children in her care were sleeping and the other a hammer attack on a mother of two.
If the lethal injection is carried out, it would be Florida’s fourth execution this year after none since 2019. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed each of the death warrants in the months before announcing he is running for president. Two months later, Worden was sleeping in her Boca Raton home when Owen struck her several times with a hammer and raped her. One of Worden’s children found her body the next morning while getting ready for school, according to court records.Owen’s lawyers argued that he shouldn’t be executed on grounds of insanity. The state Supreme Court rejected his latest appeal last week and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected it Wednesday.
Prosecutors argued that while Owen has mental health issues, nothing would preclude him from being executed because he’s aware it’s a punishment for his crimes. Psychiatrists for the state testified that Owen’s schizophrenia is an act that he discusses when being evaluated, but he otherwise shows no signs of the illness.
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