Florida executes Darius Kimbrough

Darius Kimbrough

STARKE — Rapist and killer Darius Kimbrough, who spent nearly 19 years on death row for the murder of an Orange County woman, died by lethal injection this evening at Florida State Prison as relatives of victim Denise Collins watched.

Kimbrough answered, "No, sir," when asked whether he wanted to make a statement.

The 40-year-old killer blinked his eyes as he lay on a gurney just before the deadly chemicals began to flow at 6:01 p.m. He lay motionless for 17 minutes, when a doctor shined a light in his eyes, placed a stethoscope to his chest and pronounced him dead at 6:18.

Hours before Kimbrough's execution, he ate his last meal and visited with a chaplain and family members. Kimbrough requested a final meal of two slices of pizza, fried green tomatoes, fried chicken, chicken gizzards, chocolate-chip ice cream and fruit punch.

He ate most of it about 9:45 a.m., Department of Corrections spokeswoman Jessica Cary said.

Kimbrough was visited by a chaplain and by his mother, three aunts, a cousin and a friend, Cary said. She described his demeanor as calm.

Kimbrough was convicted in July 1994 of first-degree murder, sexual battery and burglary. A judge sentenced him to death in December of that year after a jury recommended, 11-1, that he die for killing Collins, 28.

Kimbrough was two months shy of his 19th birthday when he climbed a ladder to Collins' second-floor balcony at Carousel Club Apartments on Rio Grande Avenue south of Orlando, broke in through a sliding-glass door and attacked her in her bedroom.

Kimbrough broke Collins' jaw and skull during the struggle. She died the next day in a hospital after life support was disconnected.

he crime went unsolved until Kimbrough was arrested for raping a 22-year-old woman five months later in the Conway neighborhood. He was sentenced to 10 1/2 years for burglary and sexual battery.

DNA from that attack connected him to the Collins assault.

Kimbrough becomes the 7th condemned inmate to be put to death in Florida this year and the 81st overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1979. Only Texas (507), Virginia (110), and Oklahoma (106) have put more inmates to death since the death penalty was re-legalized in the USA on July 2, 1976.

Kimbrough becomes the 33rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1353rd overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Source: Orlando Sentinel, Rick Halperin, November 12, 2013