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Summary: Florida has taken on the reins of getting the lethal-injection ball rolling in the United States by holding the first execution of the year by executing a man convicted of killing three women in 1986.
The first execution of 2016 in the United States took place in Florida with the lethal injection of a man convicted of killing three women. The other top states for following through with the death penalty are Texas, Oklahoma and Virginia.
Oscar Bolin Jr., 53, was executed on Thursday night after his appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court were denied. Bolin’s ex-wife and half-brother testified against him. He was scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m., but it was delayed while they waited for word from the Supreme Court. Finally, around 9:40 p.m, the stay requests were denied without any explanation from the justices and he was killed around 10:16 p.m.
His execution was for the death of Teri Lynn Matthews, but he was sentenced to death for one of the other killings as well. Matthews was found wrapped in a sheet with multiple head injuries. He was convicted a total of three times in her death but the first two were reversed.
Bolins was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Stephanie Collins and Natalie Holley, but Holley’s was reversed and he was later convicted of second-degree murder. All three women were killed in 1986. He gathered public attention when he met and married a woman that was working in the public defender’s office. She left her husband, who happened to be an attorney, to marry Bolin.
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Florida only executed two inmates last year, their lowest number in four years, partially due to the fact that the lethal-injection procedure used by Oklahoma was being challenged by the Supreme Court. Florida uses a very similar method to Oklahoma.
Photo: tampabay.com
