Mark Allen Geralds has decided against fighting his scheduled Dec. 9 execution in the 1989 murder of a woman in Bay County — the second time in less than two months that a condemned killer has taken the unusual step of waiving final legal appeals.
Bay County Circuit Judge Timothy Register on Monday issued an order that granted Geralds’ request to waive what is typically a flurry of legal proceedings after death warrants are signed. The order came three days after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for Geralds.
Register said the inmate’s request came during a case-management conference and that he found Geralds competent to make the decision.
“Defendant indicated that his wish was to forego all warrant (legal) proceedings and allow the execution to proceed,” Register wrote in the order.
“Defendant was advised of his right to appeal as well as his right to waive the appeal, and defendant stated his wish that no appeal be taken. The defendant then confirmed that no one had promised or threatened anything to get him to waive his right to an appeal and that he was making that decision freely and voluntarily.”
The move came after convicted murderer Norman Grim, during an Oct. 1 hearing in Santa Rosa County, waived pursuing an attempt to stop his execution. Grim was executed Oct. 28 in the 1998 sexual assault and murder of a woman who was his neighbor.
Ordinarily, DeSantis signing a death warrant triggers a series of efforts by attorneys to halt the execution. That process starts in circuit court, goes to the Florida Supreme Court and typically ends at the U.S. Supreme Court.
As an example, attorneys for Bryan Frederick Jennings have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to halt his scheduled execution Thursday in the 1979 murder of a 6-year-old girl in Brevard County. That appeal came after the Florida Supreme Court rejected their arguments.
Also, attorneys for Richard Barry Randolph have appealed to the Florida Supreme Court after a Putnam County circuit judge turned down their arguments aimed at preventing his scheduled Nov. 20 execution in the 1988 murder of a convenience-store manager.
Florida has executed a record 15 inmates this year, with the executions of Jennings, Randolph and Geralds pending. Only Grim and Geralds have waived legal proceedings.
Geralds, 58, was convicted in the murder of Tressa Lynn Pettibone, a 33-year-old Panama City Beach mother who was beaten and stabbed to death in her home. Geralds was convicted in 1990 of first-degree murder, armed robbery, burglary, and grand theft auto.
The Florida Supreme Court and federal courts over the years rejected a series of legal arguments raised by Geralds’ attorneys.
The 15 executions this year in Florida has far exceeded the previous modern-era record of eight executions in 1984 and 2014. The modern era represents the time since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, after a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court decision had halted it.
