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STARKE, Fla. (AP) – A man convicted of the death of a woman stabbed and beaten to death in Miami-Dade County 26 years ago was executed Thursday night in Florida.
Jose Antonio Jimenez, 55, received a lethal injection and died at 21:48. at the Florida State Prison in Starke. He was sentenced to death for the murder of 63-year-old Phyllis Minas in her North Miami apartment in 1992.
The US Supreme Court dismissed her last-minute appeal earlier on Thursday.
The execution takes about 15 minutes and Jimenez has no last word to say. While the three-drug protocol was being performed, Jimenez seemed to take many deep, fast breaths and sometimes moved his head.
Minas's nephew, Alan Pattee, stated in a written statement that his family thought justice was done.
"Mr. Jimenez showed no remorse or repentance for his crime, my aunt was innocent and loving and a faithful sister of my father," the statement said. "His execution will put an end to a painful memory of the cruel murder Mr. Jimenez was responsible for."
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[19659002] The judicial records show that on October 2, 1992, Minas found Jimenez in his apartment on the second floor. During her trial, neighbors said they heard her scream and tried to enter, but someone inside had locked the door.
Attorneys at trial said that a fingerprint found inside the apartment's entrance door matched Jimenez's. In addition, the guardian of the building said he saw Jimenez jump from the balcony of the second floor apartment in Minas.
The defense argued that Jimenez had neither stabbed nor killed Minas, and that all the evidence against him was circumstantial.
Authorities claim that Jimenez was a cocaine addict who was robbing the apartment in Minas when she came home and had surprised her. Investigators said that Minas, a longtime employee of the Miami-Dade court clerk, had been stabbed eight times
After a week-long trial, Jimenez was convicted and sentenced to death.
After his arrest, Jimenez was also found guilty of burglary and second degree murder in connection with the death of another woman in Miami Beach in 1990.
Over the years, he has made various calls. In an appeal to the US Supreme Court this week, Jimenez and his lawyers said the detectives investigating the case gave "false or, at best, misleading testimony." They also said that several important police reports had been lost.
In addition, his lawyers filed a motion asking the court to stay execution and consider whether Florida's lethal injection protocol constituted a cruel and unusual punishment and violated the eighth amendment to the United States Constitution.
The lawyers point to Eric Branch's execution in February with the same drugs that experts later found to be causing considerable pain, including shouting the word "murderers!" several times while he was struggling in the yard.
The judges dismissed Jimenez's appeals and requested a stay of execution on Thursday evening.
In July, Gov. Rick Scott signed the arrest warrant against Jimenez and scheduled execution for the month of August.
But the Florida Supreme Court ordered the arrest of Jimenez, including the refusal to access public records, according to which Florida's drug protocol could harm him and that he was cruel to run after the 23 years on death row. In October, the court dismissed all of these claims and lifted the stay.
According to prison officials, 28 executions have taken place since Scott took office in 2011.
This is the majority of Florida governors since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.
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The author, Associated Press Anderson in Miami contributed to this story.
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