Phillip Atkins was executed by the State of Florida for the murder of Antonio Castillo
According to court documents Phillip Atkins would abduct six year old Antonio Castillo. The little boy was brought to a wooded area where he would be sexually assaulted. Atkins would then beat the little boy to death
Phillip Atkins would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Phillip Atkins would be executed by way of the electric chair on December 5 1995
Phillip Atkins Photos
Phillip Atkins Case
A man who molested and killed a 6-year-old boy 14 years ago died in the electric chair today in Florida’s second execution in less than 24 hours.
The convict, Phillip Atkins, 40, was condemned for the kidnapping and murder of Antonio Castillo, whom he had picked up in their Lakeland neighborhood, driven to a wooded area and molested. When Antonio threatened to tell his parents, Mr. Atkins beat him to death with a steel pipe and his fists.
The State Supreme Court and Federal courts this morning rejected a last-ditch appeal by Mr. Atkins’s lawyers, who contended that the muffled scream of a convict who was executed on Monday indicated that the electric chair was malfunctioning. Prison officials maintain that those who die in the electric chair immediately become unconscious and do not feel any pain.
The boy’s mother, Florence Dietzel, watched Mr. Atkins die from the front row of witnesses. Before his execution, he apologized to the boy’s family in a long, rambling statement and said he was prepared to die.
“I am pretty sorry for everybody that I have hurt over this and has been hurt over this,” Mr. Atkins said. “Man might destroy the body, but he cannot destroy the soul, and I am ready to go on to the other side and meet the Lord, my master.”
Phillip Atkins had confessed to the killing and his tape-recorded admission to the police was played at his trial. But lawyers later argued that his trial lawyers and the jury that convicted him did not see a vital photograph that might have indicated that the child had been struck and killed by an automobile.
The Florida Supreme Court rejected that appeal on Friday, and Federal courts subsequently did the same.
His death came a day after that of Jerry White, 47, the convict who had screamed. Mr. White had been sentenced to die for the murder of James Melson, a shopper in a grocery that Mr. White robbed in Orange County in 1981. Mr. Melson was shot in the back of the head.