Florida puts ex-police officer to death for girl's murder, first of 2 executions set for single day

STARKE, Fla. — A former police officer convicted of the on-duty rape and murder of a young girl was put to death Tuesday, the first of two lethal injections planned for a single day in Florida, hours before an 80-year-old man was to become the second-oldest inmate executed in modern U.S. history. It has been nearly a decade since any state carried out two executions in one day, when Arkansas had back-to-back executions in 2017. Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has made the state's death chamber the nation’s busiest at the end of his final term, saying too many families have waited too long to see justice.

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