Serial Killer Has Lobster, Shrimp For Last Meal
POSTED: 12:26 pm EDT October 25, 2006
UPDATED: 8:12 pm EDT October 25, 2006
STARKE, Fla. -- Danny Rolling has been executed for murdering five college students in Gainesville in 1990.
Late Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down his final appeal, which cleared the way for the state of Florida to execute one of its most notorious serial killers.
Rolling was declared dead at 6:13 p.m., WESH 2 News reported.
He was sentenced to death after he confessed to the murders of Tracy Paules, 23, of Miami; Christa Hoyt, 19, of Archer; Manuel Taboada, 23, of Miami; Sonja Larson, 18, of Deerfield Beach; and Christina Powell, 17, of Jacksonville.
Rolling killed them during a murder spree in which he broke into three apartments and terrorized the city of Gainesville, WESH 2 News reported.
Before he was put to death by lethal injection, Rolling began to sing a song as a last statement, according to WESH 2 reporter Stephen Stock who witnessed the execution.
"'None greater than thee, oh Lord, none greater than thee'" was the refrain he kept singing," Stock said.
Stock said there were 47 witnesses in the execution chamber, including members of the media. He said Ada and Jim Larson, the mother and brother of victim Sonja Larson, sat in the front row and showed little emotion. Only Paules's father showed much emotion, Stock said.
People protesting both sides of the death penalty issue gathered outside the state prison in Starke for the execution. Prison officials set up two separate areas for the protesters.
Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday that he would not intervene in the execution.
"He is the poster child, if you will, of why there should be a death penalty -- atrocious crimes committed. It's more than appropriate for him to receive the sentence he received, and my only frustration is it takes so long for the sentence to be complete," Bush said.
The people who gathered outside the prison came for different reasons.
"It's not a humane thing to do. It's not a Christian thing to do," said protester Howard Moon. "I oppose the death penalty on religious grounds. I believe it's wrong for us to kill."
"Justice is somebody paying for what they have done. He kills so he must be killed," said Johnnie Fellabum. "I'm in favor of capital punishment."
"He wiped out five people's lives. Somewhere there's a penalty to be paid for that," said death penalty supporter Cecil Grimmett.
Moon disagreed.
"We have no right to take a life. He had no right to take the lives he took, but we don't compound the problem by killing him," he said.
Rolling spent his final few hours meeting with the warden, his spiritual advisor and his brother, Kevin.
"He seemed calm, and he was just speaking straightforwardly," said Randy Cunningham of the Department of Corrections.
Cunningham said Rolling met with his family before he had his last meal.
For his last meal, Rolling had lobster tail, butterfly shrimp, a baked potato, strawberry cheesecake and sweet tea. The last meal must cost less than $40 and all items must be available locally.
Prison officials said Rolling ate "every last bite" of his final meal and he was thankful for it.
Rolling's visit with his brother ended at 4 p.m. so that the process toward lethal injection could begin.
Rolling was strapped to a table in the execution room, and doctors placed a saline drip in his arm.
An injection of sodium pentothal made him lose consciousness. Then, a second injection stopped his breathing by paralyzing his diaphragm.
A final injection triggered a fatal seizure in Rolling's heart. Within five minutes, he had irreversible brain damage.
Rolling's final appeal contended that the chemicals used in Florida's execution process can cause severe pain. But the U.S. Supreme Court turned it down, just like it did in two other Florida executions this fall.
So far this year, 46 people have been executed in the U.S., and all but one died by lethal injection.
Rolling was the country's 47th execution of 2006 and the third person in Florida to be put to death. The state of Florida executed Clarence Hill, 48, and Arthur Rutherford, 57, this year.
Thirty-eight states in the U.S. have the death penalty.
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