The Florida man convicted of the 1993 brutal murder of an 8-year-old girl and her grandmother was executed by a fatal injection Thursday after the Supreme Court refused to appeal him.
Edward James, 63, was declared dead at 8:15pm at Florida State Jail, near Stark. According to the Associated Press, he said he didn't want to make a final statement before being executed.
On September 19, 1993, after pleading guilty to Toni Neuner's murder and her grandmother, 58-year-old Betty Dick, the james declared James 11-1.
The final appeal of James' execution was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court early Thursday, allowing his death sentence to move forward.
A Florida man is convicted of rape, kills an 8-year-old, kills his grandma and asks Scotts to block him execution
Edward James, 63, was executed by Florida on Thursday for the murder of eight-year-old Toni Neuner and her grandmother, 58-year-old Betty Dick in 1993. (Florida Department of Corrections)
When the attack occurred, James had rented a room at Dick's house, about 10 miles north of Orlando. Neuner and three other children were at home on the night of the fatal attack, while the other three children were not harmed.
Before he returned to his room at home, court records showed James drank up to 24 bottles of beer and alcohol and took LSD.
Neuner was raped, strangled and Dick was stabbed 21 times. After killing them, James stole a woman's jewel and her car before driving around the country, heading to Bakersfield, California, where he was arrested on October 6, 1993.
James admitted to both crimes during a video-recorded confession with police.
The convicted murderer will be Louisiana's first nitrogen gas run after the appeal is denied
Several appeals claiming James had cognitive issues to protect against enforcement were filed in state and federal courts, all rejected.
Earlier this month, the Florida Supreme Court rejected the argument from James' attorney that his long-standing drug and alcohol use combined with head trauma and heart attacks lead to “mental decline,” resulting in cruel and unusual punishment.
Edward James died of a fatal injection after Florida officials managed the state's three-drug cocktail. (via the Ben Gray/Atlanta Journal Constitution)
In denial, the judiciary agreed to a lower court's decision that stated that cognitive issues did not protect James from his death sentence. James' lawyers also sought to argue that the heart attack he experienced in prison led to oxygen deprivation that affected his brain.
In Florida, death row inmates who choose to receive a fatal injection will receive a three-drug cocktail consisting of sedatives, paralytics and heart-stopping drugs, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Click here to get the Fox News app
James' execution marked the second execution this year in Sunshine State as James Ford was executed for the murder of a Charlotte County couple in front of a surviving toddler daughter in 1997.
James Ford was executed in February in Charlotte County, Florida for the 1997 murders of Greg and Kimberly Marnolly. (Florida Department of Corrections)
Florida's next execution is scheduled for April 8th to be killed in Florida Keys for the 2000 woman's murder.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
