A death row inmate convicted of killing and raping an 8-year-old before murdering her grandmother in 1993 is asking Florida not to execute him on March 20, citing his "mental decline."
The attorney for Edward James, 63, argued in a stay of execution filed Wednesday that executing the Seminole County man would be a violation of the Eighth Amendment due to his 30 years on death row and "significant mental and physical decline." It was filed days after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed James's death warrant on Feb. 18.
The execution is scheduled for March 20 at 6:00 p.m.
"James' case presents important constitutional issues which deserve to be fully addressed by this Court," wrote attorney Dawn Macready.
She claimed the execution violates the Eighth Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual punishment due to James's time on death row, "newly discovered evidence" of brain scans from a 2023 heart attack, and Florida's unique law requiring nonunanimous jury verdicts in death penalty cases.
On Sep. 19, 1993, James, who rented a room from 58-year-old Betty Dick in Seminole County, entered the property after attending a nearby party where he drank gin, between six and twenty-four cans of beer, and ingested 10 "hits" of LSD, a 1997 Court opinion reads.
He grabbed Dick's 8-year-old granddaughter Toni Neuner, who was asleep in the living room, took her to his bedroom, then strangled her to death and raped her. He then stabbed Dick to death with a small knife in her bedroom before tying up another one of her grandchildren, Wendi, who witnessed Dick's murder.
James showered, took Dick's purse and jewelry bag, then drove across the country in her car—stopping periodically to pawn the jewelry for money. He was arrested in Bakersfield, California on Oct. 6, and sentenced to death in Florida in 1995.
The stay request came soon after Macready filed a 75-page brief seeking post-conviction relief, which cited a slew of issues faced by James, including abusing drugs from childhood through adulthood, incurring "numerous head traumas" in car crashes and fights, and suffering a heart attack in 2023 that allegedly deprived his brain of oxygen.
If the execution goes through, James would be the second Floridian executed this year. In 2023, Florida passed two first-in-the-nation death penalty laws: requiring only 8 of 12 jurors to recommend the death penalty instead of a unanimous decision, and allowing the death penalty for pedophiles who rape children under 12.
