Killer To Be Executed On 25th Anniversary Of Return To Death Penalty

A convicted child molester is scheduled for execution at the Florida State Prison Tuesday night -- the 25th anniversary of the state's return to the death penalty.

John Blackwelder (pictured, left) murdered convicted killer Raymond Wigley (pictured, below) in May 2000 at Columbia Correctional Institution in Lake City. Blackwelder said he hoped the murder would bring him a death sentence.

Blackwelder, 49, told the Supreme Court that he has dropped all of his appeals and is seeking execution.

"I made it clear, I want off this world. I can't kill myself. I'm not suicidal. But I sure can make it hard for everybody else," he told the Florida Supreme Court in 2000.

Unless he receives a last-minute stay, Blackwelder is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

"I personally wish to thank Jeb Bush ... for changing his mind and signing my death warrant," said Blackwelder in an interview Monday.

During his interview, Blackwelder said he was sorry for killing Wigley, but he made no mention of the Georgia boy he was convicted of molesting.

Abe Bonowitz, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, called Blackwelder's actions "governor-assisted suicide."

On May 25, 1979, John Spenkelink, a drifter convicted of killing a traveling companion, became the first man put to death in Florida since the death penalty's reinstatement in 1976.

Since executions resumed in the United States, 910 people have been executed, including 58 in Florida, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Florida leads the nation in the number of inmates freed from death row in the same period -- 25.

The chair has twice malfunctioned, with flames leaping from the heads of two inmates. After pictures of one electrocuted inmate's bloody face surfaced on the Internet, the state did away with the chair.

Six of the last 10 inmates executed in Florida have dropped their appeals and asked to die.

On the Net:Florida Department of CorrectionsDeath Penalty Information Center

Previous Stories:

• June 12, 2001: Inmate Faces Possible Death Sentence
• April 28, 2004: Death Warrant Signed For Inmate Who Killed Another Prisoner