TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Gov. Charlie Crist signed his first death warrant Wednesday, ending a temporary halt on lethal injections that had been imposed after a botched execution last year.
Mark Dean Schwab, a convicted child killer, is scheduled to be executed November 15, Crist said.
Last December, then-Gov. Jeb Bush suspended all Florida executions after a medical examiner determined prison officials had botched the insertion of the needles when a convicted killer was put to death. Angel Nieves Diaz's execution took 34 minutes — twice as long as usual — and required a rare second dose of lethal chemicals.
Since then, the state has adopted the recommendations of a panel to improve the state's lethal injection process.
Schwab, 38, was sentenced to death in 1992 after he was convicted of first-degree murder, sexual battery upon a child and kidnapping of a child under 13.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox