A Florida inmate known as the “ninja killer” was executed Wednesday for murdering a couple in Palm Coast, Florida, in 1989.
Louis Bernard Gaskin, 56, was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. after receiving a lethal injection, the governor’s office said Wednesday. No relatives of the victims had arranged to be in the witness room during the execution.
In 1990, a jury recommended Gaskin be sentenced to death by a vote of 8 to 4. Now, Florida law requires juries to reach a unanimous decision for death penalty sentences.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for Gaskin last month.
Both the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court have rejected appeals Gaskin filed since DeSantis signed his death warrant.The latest denial came Tuesday.
Lawyers for Gaskin wrote there is “an undisputable national consensus” that if a death sentence is to be constitutional, it should be unanimous. They also wrote the jury was never presented “with profound compelling mitigating evidence” and still four jurors recommended life.
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What did Louis Bernard Gaskin do?
Gaskin was convicted in 1990 of two counts of first-degree murder in the robbery nad killings of Robert Sturmfel, 56, and Georgette Sturmfel, 55, in Palm Coast, Florida. Gaskin shot them from outside the house and then broke in and shot them again, with a .22-caliber rifle.
The home was the Sturmfel’s winter residence and they had been visiting from New Jersey.
Local media reported at the time that Gaskin quickly confessed to the crimes and told a psychologist before his trial that he knew what he was doing.
“The guilt was always there,” Gaskin said. “The devil had more of a hold than God did. I knew that I was wrong. I wasn’t insane.”
After killing the Sturmfels on the night of Dec. 20, 1989, Gaskin targeted another couple in Palm Coast and shot the husband before the pair were able to escape.
Gaskin also confessed to killing a third man in 1986. He has been on death row for 33 years.
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Why is Gaskin called the ‘ninja killer?’
Gaskin was dubbed the “ninja killer” because he wore all-black ninja clothing during the crimes.
When Gaskin next tried to kill Joseph and Noreen Rector, he tried to lure the husband outside and then shot him through a window. The couple managed to escape.
In the case of the Sturmfel killings, Gaskin stole a clock, two lamps, and a videocassette recorder, which were found at his residence after the killings. The items were intended to be Christmas gifts for his girlfriend, according to investigators.
Gaskin was also convicted of armed robbery, burglary, and the attempted murder of the Rectors that same night in the same area of Palm Coast.
How many executions have happened in Florida?
Gaskin’s execution was Florida’s 100th execution since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1976. There are an additional 297 people on Florida’s death row.
This execution comes six weeks after Donald Dillbeck, 59, was put to death for the 1990 murder of Faye Vann, 44, in Tallahassee, Florida, and three weeks before the scheduled execution of Darryl B. Barwick for slaying Rebecca Wendt, 24, in 1986 in Panama City, Florida.
Barring any stays for Barwick, it will be the shortest period that three executions have been carried out in Florida since three were put to death within 36 days in 2014 under former Gov. Rick Scott, also a Republican.
Florida law requires a unanimous jury vote for capital punishment, although the Legislature could send DeSantis a bill this week that would allow 8-4 jury recommendations for capital punishment.
Contributing: Frank Fernandez, Daytona Beach News-Journal; Associated Press