In 1999, the state of Florida heard a petition from Thomas Harrison Provenzano, another death row inmate, that argued that the electric chair was a " cruel and unusual punishment". Medina's last words before being executed on March 25, 1997, were, "I am still innocent." During the administration of electric current, the electric chair known as " Old Sparky" malfunctioned, causing flames to shoot out of Medina's head.
He was sent to death row at Florida State Prison near the town of Starke in 1982. This Court affirmed Medina's convictions and sentences. The court found the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstance and sentenced Medina to death.
Florida man april 25 1997 trial#
The trial court found two aggravating circumstances and a single mitigating circumstance. The jury, by a ten-to-two vote, recommended the death penalty for the murder conviction. Medina was convicted of first-degree murder and auto theft. When law enforcement officers searched the vehicle following Medina's arrest, a knife was found in the vehicle. The man to whom Medina was selling the automobile testified that he gave Medina $250 for the automobile, but then Medina left with the automobile. Medina admitted driving James' automobile to Tampa and offering to sell the automobile to a man with whom he engaged in a fight at the time of the attempted sale. Medina also admitted that a hat found by police detectives on a bed near James' body was his hat and that he took James' automobile after she was murdered. However, Medina admitted being in James' apartment the night of the murder and that he was in James' apartment when James was dead. Medina testified in his own defense and denied murdering James. Medina was tried before a jury in Orange County on March 15–18, 1983. The trial court found Medina competent to stand trial. Each determined that Medina met the statutory criteria for competence to stand trial. Medina requested a psychiatric examination and was examined by two psychiatrists. Medina was arrested and indicted for the murder of James. Medina's explanation of how he came to be in James' vehicle was not believed by the detectives. The next day, detectives from Orange County, Florida investigating the murder of James interviewed Medina in the Columbia County Jail about the auto theft and the murder. Early in the morning of April 8, 1982, Medina was found asleep in James' automobile at a rest area on Interstate 10 near Lake City and was arrested for theft of the automobile. She had been gagged, stabbed multiple times, and left to die. James befriended Medina.ĭorothy James was found dead in her apartment on April 4, 1982. His victim, Dorothy James, an elementary school gym teacher, lived in an apartment next door. He eventually lived with his half-sister in Orlando. Medina was among nearly 125,000 Cubans who were sent to the United States during the 1980 Mariel boatlift. An autopsy later revealed that the current had destroyed Medina's brain, killing him instantly. During his execution Medina's head burst into flames filling the death chamber with smoke. The circumstances of his execution elevated objections to the use of electrocution as a means of capital punishment. After being read his rights, however, Hughes reportedly offered up an explanation for his brief dash away from the law: He claimed he never even noticed the lights and siren behind him, as he was hustling off with extreme dedication to, as the court report put it, "meet his girlfriend for relations.Pedro Luis Medina (Octo– March 25, 1997) was a Cuban refugee who was executed in Florida for the murder of a 52-year-old woman in Orlando. The pursuing officer radioed in the car's description, enabling other units to keep tabs on the vehicle.Įventually, Hughes came to a stop several blocks away from the initial location where the officer lit him up. The officer flipped on his lights and siren and sped off in pursuit-only to see the Florida man accelerate away, "ignoring my emergency equipment," according to the report. Petersburg, Florida, earlier this month-only to claim that he never noticed the lights and sirens behind him, so desperate was he to reach his girlfriend and get lucky.Īccording to Pinellas County court documents brought to light by The Smoking Gun, a police officer in an unmarked patrol car spotted 18-year-old Ruben Hughes driving recklessly blasting through a residential neighborhood in his 2005 Honda Accord on the night of December 1st.
Florida man april 25 1997 driver#
A teenage Honda driver was nailed by the cops after a brief chase in St.
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