Tonight, We the People of the State of Florida executed Curtis Windom. His execution marks perhaps one of the lowest points in Florida’s death penalty history. We executed him tonight over the opposition of his victims. We executed him to silence other people on death row who dare to call out Florida’s death penalty for what it is – arbitrary, cruel, and racist.
In an effort to defend the retaliatory signing of Curtis’ death warrant, Governor DeSantis tweeted last week, “It’s a great relief to victims’ families when accountability is finally administered.”
Except this time, it wasn’t.
Curtis was ripped away tonight from a family who loved him. Ripped away from the same family who suffered the loss of the people he killed 33 years ago. Members of all three victims’ families, including Curtis’ daughter, who lost her mother and grandmother at the hands of her father, have adamantly opposed this execution for decades. They made it clear: killing Curtis would not bring them healing. Curtis’ daughter has forgiven her father and begged the State not to kill in her name. Instead, when she expressed her opposition at the signing of his death warrant, the Attorney General’s victim advocate callously remarked that she “had a job to do,” and that all she could offer Curtis’ daughter was counseling after her father was executed. In what universe is this “a great relief”? Tonight, she had to explain to her children that “grandad isn’t here anymore because of a mistake he made in 1992.”
The murders of Valerie Davis, Mary Lubin, and Johnny Lee were unquestionably tragic. We grieve with their loved ones, and over the last month we have witnessed first-hand the pain they have endured. But what happened tonight was not about accountability or closure. It was simply the State of Florida using violence to show that it can. This execution retraumatized this family, and continued to show that Florida’s death penalty devalues Black lives and ignores Black voices.
Forgiveness and healing do not come from a lethal injection in the death chamber. They come from the families’ decades of conversations, visits, and phone calls with Curtis, where he demonstrated remorse and redemption. They come from Curtis building new relationships with the people he has so deeply hurt. They come from showing a new generation of Windoms that there is a hope for a less violent future. His execution tonight stopped that healing in its tracks, and replaced it with new pain.
Governor DeSantis does not speak for all victims’ families. Tonight’s execution wasn’t about justice. It was about flexing political muscle.
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FADP is a Florida-based, state-wide organization of individuals and groups working together to end the death penalty in Florida. Our network includes dozens of state and local groups and thousands of individual Floridians, including murder victims’ family members and other survivors of violent crime, law enforcement professionals, families of the incarcerated, and death row exonerees.
Statement from the Relatives and Friends of Mary Lubin, Valerie Davis, and Johnny Lee
33 years ago, Curtis Windom took the lives of our mother Valerie Davis, grandmother Mary Lubin, and dear family friend Johnny Lee. Whether the events of that day made us the surviving victims of a violent crime, the relatives of a person facing execution, or both, we have all lived our lives wearing a label that the state of Florida decided should define and divide us. We haven’t allowed that to happen, though. We have continued to love and care for each other, teaching our children that there is no use in punishing the many for the acts of the few.
Most of all, we have continued to love and care for Curtis. We have celebrated graduations and weddings over the phone. We have brought his grandchildren to visit him at Florida State Prison. We have built connections despite the visitation glass and cell bars. We have forgiven him.
30 days ago, the State of Florida began contacting our family excitedly asking if we would like to witness Curtis’ execution. When we said no, and that we had, in fact, spent many years advocating against the very thing we were now being asked to come and watch, we were told that there was nothing we could do to stop it from going forward. The victims’ advocate told us that she “had a job to do,” and that she could offer us therapy after an unnecessary trauma that none of us asked for. It took weeks for the State of Florida to find anyone connected to this decades-old tragedy who was willing to participate in their dog-and-pony show.
Rest in peace, Curtis. We love you. We forgive you. We will continue to reject the labels that we were given. We are heartbroken that the State of Florida didn’t listen to our pleas. And we are committed to continuing to tell our story.