William Van Poyck was executed by the State of Florida for a prison murder
According to court documents William Van Poyck and Frank Valdes would ambush correctional officers as they were taking James O’Brien to a medical appointment outside of the prison. Correctional Officer Fred Griffis was fatally shot in the chest. The escape plan failed and Van Poyck and Valdes took off but were arrested shortly after
William Van Poyck and Frank Valdes would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Frank Valdes would be murdered by correctional officers in 1999
William Van Poyck would be executed by lethal injection on June 12 2013
William Van Poyck Photos
William Van Poyck FAQ
When Was William Van Poyck Executed
William Van Poyck was executed on June 12 2013
William Van Poyck Case
William Van Poyck, whose botched jail break in 1987 left a prison guard dead, spent his last day with family, friends and a spiritual adviser.
An executioner injected poison and stopped his heart at 7:24 p.m. Wednesday at the Florida State Prison in Starke, satisfying his final words, “set me free,” and nullifying 26 years of legal maneuvering to save his life. The U.S. Supreme Court and Gov. Rick Scott rebuffed last-minute appeals for a stay and for clemency.
“Bill, in the last visit that we had with him, is so at peace and so calm,” said his sister, Lisa Van Poyck. “In the pictures that we took, he is beaming.”
She came to Starke, about 35 miles north of Gainesville, from her home in Virginia for the execution. Family members are not permitted to witness executions, but reporters were there. Lisa Van Poyck said the victim’s family chose not to attend.
Having been in prison almost all of his adult life, she said he was ready to go.
Van Poyck, 58, orchestrated a plan to free inmate James O’Brien from Glades Correctional Institution in unincorporated Palm Beach County near Belle Glade on June 24, 1987. O’Brien had an appointment at a downtown West Palm Beach dermatologist, and he tipped off Van Poyck the night before.
As he and accomplice Frank Valdes ambushed the prisoner transport van, things quickly went wrong. The driver, Fred Griffis, defiantly tossed the keys into a bush. Van Poyck insists it was Valdes who fired the three shots into Griffis’ torso and head that killed him.
But that has not been proved in court, and Valdes was beaten to death in prison.
“When [Griffis] was murdered, it basically ripped a hole in the family’s heart that’s never really healed,” Griffis’s brother, Robert, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Van Poyck was convicted of felony murder, which does not require actually having pulled the trigger. Courts have denied appeals to overturn the jury’s death sentence.
“He is certainly not the same man he was 25 years ago,” said Guy Moore, the former director of a Tallahassee halfway house where Van Poyck spent time. “He is smart, articulate and uses his legal skills to help others. He is remorseful of his entire life as he looks back.”
On Wednesday morning, officers at Florida State Prison served Van Poyck breakfast of oatmeal and eggs at 5 a.m., his first warm breakfast in years, his sister said. Though he was allowed one last $40 meal at 10 a.m., Van Poyck declined to request it.
Van Poyck also refused the normal course of chemicals, which begins with a sedative, Lisa Van Poyck said. She said he would only be given highly concentrated potassium chloride to stop his heart.
“He wants to be clear of mind,” she said. “He wants to be focused on one thing.”
In three hours visiting with friends and family, William Van Poyck didn’t say what that one thing would be.
But if she had to guess, his sister said, it would probably be his parents, the idea of love and his favorite color, purple.
Van Poyck executed for role in Palm Beach County officer’s death
