An undated photo provided by the Florida Department of Corrections shows death row inmate Elmer Carroll. Carroll is scheduled to be executed May 28, 2013, for the rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl in 1990. (AP/FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION)
STARKE, Fla. – A convicted child molester condemned for the 1990 rape and murder of a 10-year-old Florida girl has been executed at the Florida State Prison.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott's office said 56-year-old inmate Elmer Carroll was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. Wednesday at the prison in Starke.
Carroll had been convicted of first-degree murder and sexual battery in the rape and strangling death of Christine McGowan. The girl lived with her family next door to a halfway house for homeless men where Carroll was staying in Apopka.
During Carroll's two decades on death row, his lawyers argued he was too mentally ill to stand trial or be subjected to the death penalty. The U.S. Supreme Court denied that petition.
Carroll previously had been imprisoned twice for indecent assault on a child.
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