Florida Man Scheduled for Execution in High-Profile Case
STARK, Fla. (AP) — A man, convicted of murdering his girlfriend, her mother, and a man he claims owed him $2,000, is set to receive a lethal injection on Thursday, marking the 11th execution in Florida this year.
Curtis Wyndham, 59, becomes the 30th person executed in the U.S. in 2023, following the signing of a death warrant by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. Another execution is on the calendar, set for David Joseph Pittman, 63, on September 17.
Wyndham’s final appeal was dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court just the day prior to his scheduled execution at a prison near Stark. His convictions stem from a series of murders committed on November 7, 1992, in the Orlando area, where he was sentenced for killing Johnny Lee, Valerie Davis, and Mary Rubin.
Court records reveal that a friend informed Wyndham about Lee, claiming he owed him money and had won a small amount at the racetrack. With a chilling remark, Wyndham told his friend that they would soon read about him, hinting at a plan to kill Lee.
After procuring a .38 caliber revolver and ammunition from Walmart, Wyndham tracked Lee down, shooting him twice in the back from his vehicle. He later approached the victim’s body, firing two more shots while standing over him.
Things escalated as he then proceeded to Valerie Davis’ apartment, fatally shooting his girlfriend in a reckless manner while a friend witnessed the scene. He also injured another man randomly before moving on to Mary Rubin, Davis’ mother, who was shot twice at a stop sign in his car.
Wyndham was sentenced to death for these murders and an additional 22 years for attempted murder. Davis was the mother of one of Wyndham’s children, and her daughter, Curticia Wyndham, has been actively campaigning against her father’s execution.
“We were all traumatized,” Curticia told the Orlando Sentinel. “It hurts. There’s a lot of pain. Life hasn’t been the same. But if we can forgive him, why should others who haven’t gone through our suffering be able to decide he should die?”
A group advocating against the death penalty, Floridians for an Alternative to the Death Penalty, has called on the governor to halt the execution. They have gathered over 5,000 signatures, with Curticia among those seeking clemency.
“Forgiveness takes time; 33 years is a long time. I’ve forgiven my father,” she expressed in a statement.
Wyndham’s legal team has put forth various appeals over the years, arguing that evidence of his mental health issues should have been presented during the trial. Nonetheless, the Florida Supreme Court determined that there was no bias against him, as it had been established that he was involved in drug dealing and that the two women he murdered were informants.
Many of the challenges raised by Wyndham’s lawyers highlight concerns regarding his representation during trial, particularly surrounding mental health evidence.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, Florida’s highest execution count in a single year reached eight in 2014. This year, Florida has surpassed all other states in executions, with Texas and South Carolina trailing in second and fourth place, respectively.
The last execution in Florida happened on August 19, when 67-year-old Kale Bates was executed for the murder of a woman linked to a Florida insurance office.
The state Department of Corrections will administer injections including sedatives, paralytics, and lethal drugs for the executions.
