A Florida man convicted of the 1994 murders of his wife and their two children was executed on Thursday, setting a state record for the highest number of executions in a single year since the death penalty was reinstated in the U.S. nearly fifty years ago. This was Florida’s ninth execution of the year.
Edward Zakrzewski, 60, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. The execution was carried out using a three-drug combination, including a sedative, a paralytic, and a drug that stops the heart, as outlined by the state Department of Corrections.
“I want to thank the good people of the Sunshine State for killing me in the most cold, calculated, clean, humane, and efficient way possible. I have no complaint,” Zakrzewski stated after the curtain to the death chamber was raised shortly after 6 p.m.
Zakrzewski was laying on a gurney covered with a white sheet when the drugs were administered. Before the procedure began, he quoted a poem while 14 witnesses, along with reporters and prison staff, observed.
Zakrzewski was lying on a gurney covered with a white sheet when the drugs were administered. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
Florida has also carried out more executions this year than any other state, with Texas and South Carolina tied for second with four each.
Across the U.S., 27 men have been executed so far this year, with nine more scheduled for execution in seven different states before the year ends. Florida was also the last state to execute someone, with Michael Bernard Bell’s death occurring on July 15.
