Florida Executes Self-Confessed Serial Killer James Barnes

Convicted murderer and self-confessed serial killer James Barnes died by lethal injection Thursday at Florida State Prison in Rainford. He was 61 years old.

Barnes was sentenced to death in December 2007 after he confessed to murdering 41-year-old nurse Patricia Miller at her condo in Melbourne, Florida, in 1988. Barnes sexually assaulted Miller, killed her with a hammer, then set her bed on fire, according to court records. At the time, Barnes was already serving life in prison for the death of his wife, Linda Barnes, whom he strangled to death in December 1997.

According to Florida Department of Corrections spokesperson Kayla McLaughlin, who spoke with reporters at a brief news conference prior to Thursday's execution, Barnes awoke at 5:30 a.m. Thursday and did not request a last meal. He also did not have any visitors or meet with a spiritual adviser.

According to Florida Today, Barnes did not give a final statement. He was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m.

Barnes was convicted of first-degree murder in 1998 for killing his wife, Linda, who was found strangled and stuffed in a closet in her home. Court documents read that Linda, age 44 at the time of the killing, had discovered that Barnes was dealing drugs before the murder and obtained a restraining order against her estranged husband. Barnes said he had killed at least two others but no charges have been filed in those investigations.

He was later put on death row after confessing to the rape, assault and murder of Miller, which occurred in April 1988. According to court documents, Barnes requested to meet with a Florida state attorney in 2005 while serving time for Linda's murder and gave a confession of guilt on tape.

Miller's killing had gone unsolved until Barnes was charged in 2006, although DNA sampling previously collected had connected him to Miller's death back in 1997.

Barnes' execution was a unique case for death row inmates, as lawyers are usually filing for appeals and clemency hearings in the last weeks before a lethal injection is scheduled. But on June 28, Brevard County Circuit Judge Steve Henderson issued an order that Barnes had chosen to dismiss "all postconviction proceedings" that would prevent his execution. Henderson said that Barnes was "not only competent, but also intelligent" in describing his conversations with the inmate.

"The defendant specifically told the court that he 'did not want to delay justice' and he wanted to 'see justice to be served in this case,'" Henderson said in his order.

Still, there were several who advocated for Barnes' clemency, including the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops (FCCB), which scheduled a series of vigils across the state Thursday. In a letter to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis earlier this week, the group wrote that Barnes' "willing acceptance of death" did not make the sentencing correct, adding, "Simply put, no one should be executed in our modern penal system, even if they willingly accept it."

The nonprofit Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) also hosted vigils across the state and virtually on Thursday to honor both Barnes' and the victims' lives. According to Maria DeLiberato, executive director of FADP, the group holds services for every execution in the state of Florida, and people show up in support both in person and online from around the country.

"I think the most important message on the Barnes execution is, regardless of whether he asked for it to happen or not ... The death penalty and execution themselves say more about who we are versus the person that is being killed," DeLiberato told Newsweek during a phone call Thursday afternoon, a few hours before Barnes' execution was scheduled.

"We don't make exceptions for when an execution is OK," she added. "And so every execution, like I said, dehumanizes us all, and it still continues to allow the risk for innocent people to be executed."

Barnes' death marks the 104th execution carried out by Florida since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. He is also the fifth person to die by lethal injection in the state this year.

Under DeSantis' administration, Florida is set to become the most extreme in terms of death-penalty laws after the governor signed a bill in April that would allow executions to be sentenced on jury votes of 8-4. Prior to the new law, death sentences could only be handed out with a unanimous jury vote.

Florida is now tied with Texas for the most executions carried out this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Other states who have performed executions include Missouri (4), Oklahoma (2) and Alabama (1).