A man convicted of raping and fatally beating a Florida convenience store manager in 1988 has been executed, the state's 17th execution this year, the Associated Press reported.
Richard Barry Randolph, 63, was pronounced dead after being injected with three drugs at the Florida State Prison near Stark, Gov. Ron DeSantis' office said. Randolph was convicted of murder, armed robbery, sexual assault and grand larceny and sentenced to death in 1989.
DeSantis spokesman Alex Lanfranconi said there were no complications during the procedure and that Randolph did not utter any last words.
The execution further increased the state's record for the number of executions in a single year. Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the previous highest annual number of executions in Florida was eight in 2014.
According to court documents, in August 1988, Randolph attempted to break into the safe of a convenience store in Palatka, where he had previously worked. Randolph was spotted by manager Minnie Ruth McCollum, and the two began to struggle.
Randolph then punched, choked, stabbed, and raped McCollum before leaving the store and stealing the woman's car.
Three women witnessed Randolph leaving the store and called the sheriff's office after seeing the chaos in the store through a window. A deputy responded to the call and found McCollum still alive. She was taken to a hospital in a coma and died six days later from severe brain injuries.
Randolph was arrested a short time later at a Jacksonville grocery store while trying to borrow money and cash lottery tickets stolen from the store, according to the deputy. Investigators said Randolph confessed to the attack and pointed them to the bloody clothes he had thrown away.
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Nov 21, 2025 03:18 132