Florida 'ninja killer' executed, has last meal of pork ribs, wings
Louis Gaskin, 56, was convicted of killing a New Jersey couple in Florida decades ago in their winter home
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Florida death row inmate Louis Gaskin was executed Wednesday for the 1989 slaying of a couple.
Gaskin, known as the "ninja killer" was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. local time at Florida State Prison for the deaths of Robert Sturmfels, 56, and Georgette Sturmfels, 55, on Dec. 20, 1989, in their Flagler County winter home on Florida’s northeastern coast.
"Justice is not about the crime. It’s not about the criminal," Gaskin said in his last statement. "It’s about the law."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He then referred to the legal proceedings surrounding his case and the appeals and finished his statement saying, "Look at my case."
FLORIDA INMATE NICKNAMED 'NINJA KILLER' SET TO BE EXECUTED FOR 1989 DOUBLE HOMICIDE
"Ninja killer" Louis Gaskin, who in 1989 killed a New Jersey couple at their Flagler Beach, Florida winter home, will be executed Wednesday. (Florida Department of Corrections via AP)
He began receiving his lethal cocktail around 6:02 p.m. causing him to breathe heavily as his chest rose and fell under a white sheet. The prison’s warden went to check on whether Gaskin was still conscious at 6:05 p.m. He didn’t respond. Gaskin’s breathing appeared to stop at 6:07 p.m. A doctor entered the death chamber at 6:14 p.m. to examine Gaskin and declared him dead a minute later.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Florida allows inmates slated to die to request a last meal. For his final meal, Gaskin had barbeque pork ribs, buffalo wings, pork and turkey neck, shrimp fried rice, French fries with honey barbeque sauce, and a water, the Florida Department of Corrections told Fox News Digital.
To avoid extravagance, the last meal must cost no more than $40, and must be purchased locally.
Wednesday's execution was Florida's second this year. The state and U.S. supreme courts rejected appeals Gaskin filed since his death warrant was signed, with the latest denial coming Tuesday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This execution cames six weeks after Donald Dillbeck, 59, was put to death for the 1990 murder of Faye Vann, 44, in Tallahassee, and three weeks before the scheduled execution of Darryl B. Barwick for slaying Rebecca Wendt, 24, in 1986 in Panama City.
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It was the state’s 100th execution since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. There are an additional 297 people on Florida’s death row.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Associated Press contributed to this report.