John Marek (murderer)

John Marek

Mug shot of Marek
Born John Richard Marek
(1961-09-17)September 17, 1961
United States
Died August 19, 2009(2009-08-19) (aged 47)
Starke, Florida, United States
Criminal penalty Death sentence
Criminal status Executed by lethal injection
Conviction(s) First degree murder, kidnapping, burglary

John Richard Marek (September 17, 1961 – August 19, 2009) was an American death row inmate at Florida State Prison for the rape and murder of a woman in 1983.[1] Marek was executed on August 19, 2009.[2]

Kidnapping and murder

On June 16, 1983, Adella Marie Simmons, a 45-year-old mother of two, and her Barry University co-worker Jean Trach were returning home from a holiday trip,[3] when their car broke down on Florida's Turnpike in Broward County. John Marek and his accomplice Raymond Dewayne Wigley stopped and convinced Adella Marie Simmons to ride with them to a service station. They instead took her to a beach about 60 miles away, where she was repeatedly sexually assaulted, and then strangled with a bandana and burned. Marek's accomplice Raymond Wigley was killed by fellow inmate John Richard Blackwelder while serving life imprisonment in 2000.[4][5] At trial, Blackwelder said he killed Wigley because he wanted to die. He was sentenced to death for killing Wigley and gave up all his appeals. Blackwelder was executed on May 26, 2004.

Execution

Marek was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on May 13, 2009, inside the Florida State Prison near Starke, Florida, after Governor Charlie Crist signed a death warrant.[6][7] However, at the last moment the execution did not go through. On July 16, the Florida Supreme Court lifted the stay of execution with Charlie Crist shortly afterwards setting the date of execution to August 19, 2009, at 6 p.m. inside Florida State Prison.[8][9] Marek's attorney filed a motion claiming there is a new witness who said Marek did not kill Adella Simmons. The motion was denied on August 17, 2009, by the judge in the case.[10]

Marek was executed on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 6:20 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time, EDT, -0400 UTC), at Florida State Prison, Starke, Bradford County, Florida. The method of execution was lethal injection. The execution itself took 13 minutes and Marek was declared dead at 6:33 p.m. Marek had declined sedatives and his final words were "Jesus, remember us sinners", followed by the Lord's Prayer. Marek became the 68th death row inmate to be executed in Florida since the death sentence was reinstated there in 1979.[11][12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Inmate Release Information Detail". Dc.state.fl.us. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  2. ↑ Archived August 21, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ Word, Ron. "State executes man for ’83 murder | Latest News | Bradenton Herald". Bradenton.com. Archived from the original on August 28, 2009. Retrieved 2012-08-10. C1 control character in |title= at position 24 (help)
  4. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20090828011613/http://cfnews13.com/News/Local/2009/4/20/governor_crist_signs_2_death_warrants.html. Archived from the original on August 28, 2009. Retrieved April 22, 2009. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20090828061701/http://www.fox4now.com/Global/story.asp?S=10215461. Archived from the original on August 28, 2009. Retrieved April 22, 2009. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ↑ Archived April 22, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20090423070608/http://www.flgov.com/release/10672. Archived from the original on April 23, 2009. Retrieved August 20, 2009. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20090828032455/http://www.flgov.com/release/10899. Archived from the original on August 28, 2009. Retrieved August 20, 2009. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. ↑ "Governor sets execution date for Marek | marek, governor, sent - Local News". ChipleyPaper.com. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  10. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20090819020909/http://www.justnews.com/news/20430193/detail.html. Archived from the original on August 19, 2009. Retrieved August 20, 2009. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. ↑ Archived August 28, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  12. ↑
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