Amos King was executed by the State of Florida for the murder of Natalie Brady
According to court documents Amos King would sneak out of Tarpon Springs corrections center and would head to the residence of Natalie Brady,68, who would be sexually assaulted and stabbed before her house was set on fire
Amos King would attempt to sneak back into the Tarpon Springs corrections center however he was seen by an employee. Amos would stab the employee multiple times however the employee would survive
Amos King would be convicted and sentenced to death
Amos King would be executed by lethal injection on February 26 2003
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When Was Amos King Executed
Amos King was executed on February 26 2003
Amos King Case
The state executed Amos King on Wednesday night for the rape and murder of a Tarpon Springs woman almost 26 years ago. King, 48, was condemned for the 1977 killing of Natalie Brady, 68, who lived near a Tarpon Springs corrections center, where King was a work-release inmate. He then set fire to her home.
King, executed by lethal injection, was declared dead at 6:43 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. He became the 55th person executed in Florida since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. “I would like the governor and the family to know I am an innocent man, and the state had evidence to that effect,” King said in his final statement. “I’m sorry for the victim’s family, for all the things we have gone through.”
Two of Brady’s nieces wept as King thanked his attorney, Peter Cannon. His execution was scheduled for 6 p.m. but was delayed by last-minute appeals, Bush spokeswoman Liz Hirst said. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected King’s last appeal 30 minutes after his execution was scheduled.
The day of Brady’s murder, King was caught trying to get back into the prison at about the same time firefighters and police arrived at the victim’s home.
Death-penalty opponents said the execution signals a determination by Gov. Jeb Bush to proceed with capital punishment in Florida despite rising concerns nationwide. “While many states are taking a second look at the death penalty, Florida is ready to move forward,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington. Last year, only 13 states carried out executions, the fewest since 1994. The number of death sentences being imposed nationwide also is on the decline.
For a time, it appeared the King execution would not be carried out. In December, about 90 minutes before his scheduled execution, King won a reprieve from Bush, who delayed his execution while new DNA testing was conducted. But the DNA analysis failed to provide any new evidence, and Bush rescheduled the execution. David Menschel, an attorney with the Innocence Project in New York City, said the DNA review adequately examined existing evidence, but autopsy evidence that may have proved King’s innocence has since been lost or destroyed by the state.