It’s been more than a year and a half since Florida conducted an execution, but lethal injections are likely to resume Thursday evening.
Mark James Asay’s death warrant schedules his execution for six o clock Thursday evening. His lawyers have filed appeal after appeal, but those efforts have so far proven unsuccessful. Death penalty opponents, like Ingrid Delgado of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, continue to push for an end to capital punishment.
“You know having gone this long without executions,” Delgado says, “I think reminds us that executions are not necessary to keep society safe—that there are other means through incarceration to protect society.”
Florida last executed a prisoner in January of 2016. When Asay is put to death, corrections officials will for the first time use etomidate and potassium acetate as the first and last injections in the three drug cocktail.
