TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A person convicted of raping and killing a 6-year-old woman in central Florida is scheduled to be put to demise in November beneath a demise warrant signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who continues to set a report tempo for executions.
Bryan Fredrick Jennings, 66, is scheduled to die by deadly injection Nov. 13 at Florida State Jail. Jennings can be the sixteenth particular person set for execution in Florida in 2025, with DeSantis overseeing extra executions in a single 12 months than every other Florida governor because the demise penalty was reinstated in 1976.
DeSantis signed the demise warrant Friday, simply days earlier than the scheduled execution Tuesday of Samuel Lee Smithers. One other convicted killer, Norman Mearle Grim Jr., is about to die Oct. 28.
Jennings was convicted of homicide, kidnapping and sexual battery and sentenced to demise in 1986 after two earlier convictions had been overturned.
In line with court docket information, Jennings climbed by the window of a Brevard County dwelling in Might 1979 and kidnapped 6-year-old Rebecca Kunash. Investigators mentioned Jennings drove the woman to an space close to a Merritt Island canal and raped her. Following the assault, Jennings smashed the woman’s head on the bottom after which drowned her within the close by canal, the place police later discovered her physique.
A short while later, Jennings was arrested on a visitors warrant, and police ultimately linked him to the woman’s homicide.
Attorneys for Jennings are anticipated to file appeals to the Florida Supreme Courtroom and the U.S. Supreme Courtroom.
Up to now 35 folks have been executed within the U.S. in 2025 , with Florida main the best way behind a flurry of demise warrants signed by DeSantis. The latest execution in Florida was the Sept. 30 deadly injection of Victory Tony Jones, convicted of killing a married couple throughout a 1990 theft in South Florida.
The earlier report for executions in a single 12 months in Florida was eight, most not too long ago in 2014.
