Florida set to execute man convicted of raping and killing a woman 3 decades ago

A man convicted of raping and killing a woman three decades ago after kidnapping her from a supermarket parking lot in Florida is scheduled to be executed Tuesday Anthony Wainwright is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke He was convicted in the April killing of -year-old Carmen Gayheart a mother of two young children in Lake City Wainwright would be the sixth person put to death in Florida this year The state also executed six people in but only carried out one execution last year There are four executions scheduled around the country this week including another one on Tuesday in Alabama On Monday an Oklahoma judge granted a temporary stay of execution for a man scheduled to be put to death Thursday Richard Hamilton the other man convicted in Gayheart s killing was also sentenced to death But he died on death row in January at the age of Gayheart s sister who plans to attend the execution commented three decades is too long to wait for justice It s ridiculous how a multitude of appeals they get Maria David described The Associated Press adding that each step of the appeals process reopened her family s wounds You have to relive it again because they have to tell the whole story again Wainwright and Hamilton escaped from prison in North Carolina stole a green Cadillac and burglarized a home the next morning taking guns and money Then they drove to Florida and when the Cadillac began to have problems in Lake City they decided to steal another bicycle They confronted Gayheart a society college learner on April as she loaded groceries into her blue Ford Bronco according to court documents They forced her into the conveyance at gunpoint and drove off They raped her in the backseat and then took her out of the bicycle and tried to strangle her before shooting her twice in the back of the head court filings say They dragged her body several dozen yards from the road and drove off The two men were arrested in Mississippi the next day after a shootout with police A jury in convicted Wainwright of murder kidnapping robbery and rape and unanimously recommended that he be sentenced to death Wainwright s lawyers have filed multiple unsuccessful appeals over the years based on what they declared were problems with his trial and evidence that he suffered from brain damage and intellectual disability Since his execution was scheduled his lawyers have argued in state and federal court filings that his execution should be put on hold to allow time for courts to hear additional legal arguments in his event In a filing with the U S Supreme Court his lawyers argue that his circumstance has been marred by critical systemic failures at virtually every stage and through the signing of his death warrant Those failures include flawed DNA evidence that wasn t disclosed to the defense until after opening statements erroneous jury instructions inflammatory and inaccurate closing arguments and missteps by court-appointed lawyers the filing says The filing also says that a jailhouse informant who testified at Wainwright s trial conclusively admitted last month that he and another informant had testified in exchange for lighter sentences a fact that had not been disclosed to the defense The Supreme Court on Monday denied Wainwright s final appeals without comment David Gayheart s sister disclosed she feels cheated that Hamilton died before the state could execute him She declared she was overcome with emotion when she heard the governor had signed a death warrant for Wainwright Her parents both died while waiting for justice to be served she commented but she plans to be there to witness the final chapter of her family s tragedy There s nothing that would keep me from seeing this all the way through she explained Her sister loved animals and surprised her by training to become a nurse rather than a veterinarian David explained Gayheart was two years younger than her sister but became a mother first and David revealed she marveled at her sister s patience with her young children She was here she mattered she should be remembered and she was loved David revealed of her sister Over the years she has kept a book where she put every court filing from the initial indictment through the latest appeals I m looking forward to getting the last pieces of paperwork that say he s been executed to put into the book and never having to think about Anthony Wainwright ever again she disclosed