Florida Execution Carried Out Without Any Problems; Victim's Family Finally Feels Closure
Florida successfully executed Eddie Wayne Davis, 45, for the 1994 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl. He is the second to die after a botched execution in Oklahoma brought a temporary halt to all executions.
In 1995, Davis was convicted of the first-degree murder, kidnapping, and sexual battery of Kimberly Waters, the daughter of a woman he had briefly dated. According to reports, he broke into his ex-girlfriend's trailer looking for beer money. When he found the 11-year-old girl, he took her to an abandoned trailer and raped her before moving her to another location, where he beat her and suffocated her, then dumped her body in a trash can.
The young girl fought back and had his skin under her nails, which helped lead to a conviction. Her family attended the execution in order to seek some type of justice for the victim. Her mother died in 2004, but four aunts and uncles attended. Her grandmother waited outside during the procedure.
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"I don't need to see it. I just need to know it's done," Mary Hobbs told the Miami Herald. "It's an absolute relief … to know it's over and justice has been served. It's been a long time coming."
"Twenty years, four months and six days and we finally have justice," Kimberly's uncle Tom Briner added.
The death penalty had been put under intense scrutiny since a botched execution left a man alert and possibly in pain until he died of a heart attack 45 minutes later. Florida used a three-drug combination in order to put Davis to death, and it appeared as though he did not suffer as a result. The drugs used were midazolam hydrochloride, vecuronium bromide, and potassium chloride.
The Herald reported that Davis received his IV at 6:30 p.m. and began muttering to himself (officials said he was saying prayers). He took several deep breaths and his eyes fluttered before he went completely motionless. A doctor came into the room and checked for signs of life. Finding none, the execution team leader called the governor, and Davis was declared legally dead.
