A man convicted of killing three people is slated for execution Wednesday in Florida. Florida is the third state to put someone to death this week, since a botched execution in Oklahoma took place in April.
Since Governor Rick Scott took office in 2011, he’s okayed 17 Florida executions. And, around 6 p.m. Wednesday, John Henry will be the 18th person put to death. When asked whether he was confident about Florida’s execution process, Scott replied:
“Well, look, executions are a solemn duty of the Governor. It’s nothing that I thought about when I was going to run, but I uphold the laws of the land. When I think about the executions, I think about the families. I know the stories of what happened to these individuals, and I think about them,” said Scott, speaking to reporters Tuesday.
Henry was convicted in 1985 for fatally stabbing his wife to death and her five-year-old son as well as fatally stabbing his common-law wife years earlier.
His impending execution along with two Tuesday executions that took place in Georgia and Missouri are the firsts in the nation since the botched execution in Oklahoma raised concerns about lethal injections. Georgia uses a single drug called pentobarbital, while Florida uses a three-drug combination. It includes midazolam and vecuronium bromide, which is included in Oklahoma’s drug cocktail.
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