Crist said in a written statement he was confident the state's execution procedures -- changed after a review -- would ensure Mark Dean Schwab's Nov. 15 execution won't violate the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Anti-death penalty activists say the changes amount to window-dressing, not reform. And Schwab's attorneys plan to file an appeal in connection with an Ocala lawsuit concerning the constitutionality of execution procedures and drugs.
The case, which the state Supreme Court will hear Oct. 11, was spurred by the botched December execution of Miami killer Angel Nieves Diaz, who took 34 minutes to die after the lethal-injection needles were improperly inserted in his arms.
'HEINOUS' CRIME
Schwab has been on Death Row since his 1992 conviction for duct-taping, raping and asphyxiating 11-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez of Cocoa. ''It is impossible for this court to contemplate another crime that would be more heinous, atrocious and cruel than the death of Junny Rios-Martinez,'' Brevard Circuit Judge Edward J. Richardson ruled in July 1992.
''The facts show the defendant is a mentally disordered sex offender. He is antisocial and dangerous to male children,'' the judge wrote, noting that Schwab, who posed as a reporter to get close to Junny, was ``in touch with reality.''
Schwab had just been released early from prison for raping a 13-year-old Merritt Island boy at knife-point.
Because of the inmate lawsuit concerning lethal injections, many Death Row attorneys were surprised Crist signed Schwab's death warrant before the case was resolved, said Mark Gruber, an attorney with the Death Row appeals office in Tampa handling Schwab's case. Gruber said he can ''all but guarantee'' Schwab will appeal.
COMMITTEE REPORT
Executions have been on hold since Gov. Jeb Bush impaneled a committee to oversee the methods of execution after Diaz's death. The committee suggested that the state consider reviewing the three-drug cocktail used to execute killers; Crist ignored the recommendation because prison chief Jim McDonough said the drugs were fine.
Crist approved the recommendation providing more lethal-injection training for prison staff, increasing the size of the execution chamber, beefing up the staff to oversee the process and installing a closed-circuit television monitor to better keep track of executions.
