Florida executes man convicted of killing his wife and children in 1994 | Florida

A man from Florida found guilty of having killed his wife and his two children in 1994 became the ninth person to be put to death Thursday in Florida this year, marking a record of the state for a total execution of the restoration of the death penalty in the United States.

Edward Zakrzewski was declared dead at 6:12 p.m. local time following an injection of three drugs at Florida State Prison near Starke.

“I would like to thank the good people of the Sunshine State for having killed me in the coldest, calculated, clean, human and effective way possible.

Before the drugs started to flow, Zakrzewski also cited a poem when 14 witnesses were looking at him, as well as media journalists and prison staff.

Once the drugs are administered, Zakrzewski began to breathe deeply, surrounded by three staff members of the Correctional Services department in dark costumes. One of them rocked Zakrzewski by the shoulders and shouted his name. There was no reaction and then he was still.

No member of the victim’s family later spoke with journalists.

After the United States Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, Florida made a one-year summit of eight executions in 2014, a total corresponding this year to an execution in mid-July, and has now exceeded.

Florida This year has performed more executions than any other state, while Texas and South Carolina are on the second row with four each.

A 10th execution is scheduled for August 19 and an 11 August 28.

Zakrzewski, an Air Force veteran, was condemned to die for the 1994 killings of his 34 -year -old wife, Sylvia, and their children Edward, seven, and Anna, five, at their home in Okaloosa County in the Panhandle. The testimony of trial showed that he had committed the killings after his wife asked for a divorce, and he had told others that he would kill his family rather than authorize this.

The opponents of the execution point to the military service of Zakrzewski and the fact that a jury voted 7-5 to recommend its execution, barely the majority of the panel. It could not be executed with such a vote in the jury divided under the current state law. The trial judge imposed three death sentences on Zakrzewski.

The action network, which organized an anti-execution petition, asked people to call the desantis office and read a prepared script urging an execution stay for Zakrzewski.

“Florida does not need the death penalty. This execution will not make us safer, it will simply add another act of violence to an already tragic history. Justice does not require death,” reads the script in part.

Zakrzewski lawyers have submitted many calls over the years, which have all been rejected.

Zakrzewski’s final call for a suspension was rejected Wednesday by the United States Supreme Court.

Until the execution of Thursday, twenty-six men died by execution ordered by the court this year in the United States, and 11 other persons should be put to death in seven states in the rest of 2025.

Florida was also the last state to execute someone when Michael Bernard Bell died by lethal injection on July 15. State governor, Ron Desantis, also signed a mandate for the 10th execution this year for Kayle Bates, who removed a woman from an insurance office and killed her more than four decades.

Wednesday evening, Desantis issued a death warrant for Curtis Windom, 59, found guilty of having killed three people in the Orlando region in 1992. Its execution is scheduled for August 28.

Florida uses a cocktail with three drugs for its lethal injection: a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Correctional Services of the State.