Glen Ocha's execution came hours after Gov. Jeb Bush said he thought about delaying it out of respect for Pope John Paul II's death, but decided against it because of sympathy for the victim's family.

Bush's office said Ocha, 47, was pronounced dead at 6: 10 p.m. That was a few minutes after an anonymous executioner injected a lethal cocktail of three chemicals to stop Ocha's heart and his breathing.

Ocha waived a jury trial and pleaded guilty to the Oct. 5, 1999, killing of convenience store employee Carol Skjerva, 28, who had given him a ride home from the Kissimmee bar where he worked.

After having sexual relations, Ocha said, he choked her three times until his arms got tired. He then hanged Skjerva from a kitchen door and drank a beer while she died.

Ocha, who changed his name in prison to Raven Raven, received a final meal Tuesday morning of a fried chicken breast, potato salad, kernel corn, two biscuits and a large glass of Pepsi.

He received final visits from two Catholic priests, the Rev. Dale Recinella of Macclenny and retired Bishop John Snyder from Jacksonville, plus a visit with his brother, Martin Ocha, said Sterling Ivey, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections.

Bush, a convert to Roman Catholicism, told reporters earlier Tuesday in Tallahassee that "I actually was prepared to delay the execution out of courtesy for and respect for the pope's passing." But he also said he has a duty to state law and has sympathy for the victims.

Bush's decision drew criticism from Abe Bonowitz, director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. He had said Ocha's execution would be "suicide by governor."

Greg L. Hill, who was appointed as a backup attorney for Ocha, met with his client Monday evening at the prison and said it was Ocha's desire "to accept responsibility for his actions."

He met his victim at a bar in Kissimmee, where he engraved beer mugs. He was drunk and high on Ecstasy when she drove him home and they had sex. He said he became enraged when Skjerva told Ocha she was going to tell her boyfriend and made fun of his anatomy.

After hiding her body inside a home entertainment system in his garage, Ocha took Skjerva's car and drove to Daytona Beach. He confessed to the killing when he was arrested for disorderly intoxication.

Ocha would not let a public defender present evidence to avoid execution. After the state Supreme Court affirmed his conviction in 2002, Ocha filed a motion with the trial court to drop his appeals and dismiss his attorneys. In May, the Supreme Court ordered the trial court to hold a hearing on his mental competency. Ocha discharged his state lawyer, Mark Gruber, when he was ruled competent June 11.

Ocha had warned that he will kill again if he did not receive the death penalty.

Of the 16 inmates executed under death warrants signed by Bush, seven did not fight their execution.

Ocha was the 60th person executed in Florida since the 1976 reinstatement of the death penalty and the first since May 26, when John Blackwelder who was so intent on being executed that he killed a fellow inmate and pleaded guilty.

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On the Net:

Florida Department of Corrections: http://www.dc.state.fl.us/

Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty: http://www.fadp.org

AP-ES-04-05-05 1831EDT