https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/2023/04/12/florida-execution-desantis-ninja-killer-louis-gaskin-death-lethal-injection/

Florida executes ‘ninja killer’ Louis Gaskin in 1989 deaths of couple

The 56-year-old man was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. after receiving a lethal injection, the governor’s office said.

STARKE — Florida executed a man known as the “ninja killer” on Wednesday for the 1989 slayings of a couple visiting the state from New Jersey.

Louis Bernard Gaskin, 56, was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. after receiving a lethal injection, the governor’s office said. He was convicted of killing Robert Sturmfels, 56, and Georgette Sturmfels, 55, on Dec. 20, 1989, in their Flagler County winter home on Florida’s northeastern coast.

Gaskin woke up at 4:45 a.m. Wednesday and had his last meal at 9:45 a.m., Department of Corrections spokesperson Kayla McLaughlin Smith said during a news conference. The meal included BBQ pork ribs, pork and turkey neck, Buffalo wings, shrimp fried rice, french fries and water.

Gaskin was visited by his sister Wednesday, but he did not meet with a spiritual adviser, McLaughlin Smith said. No relatives of the victims had arranged to be in the witness room during the execution.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has been signing death warrants at a rapid pace this year as he prepares his widely expected presidential campaign. He oversaw only two executions in his first four years in office, both in 2019.

This execution came 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.

Barring any stays for Barwick, it will be the shortest period that three executions have been carried out in Florida since three were put to death within 36 days in 2014 under former Gov. Rick Scott, also a Republican.

Gaskin’s death marked 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, which is located at Florida State Prison, about 40 miles southwest of Jacksonville.

Gaskin, who was dubbed the “ninja killer” because he wore all-black ninja clothing during the crimes, shot his victims with a .22-caliber rifle, investigators said. He was convicted of first-degree murder.

Property that he stole from the Sturmfels’ home — a clock, two lamps and a videocassette recorder — was found at his residence and were intended to be Christmas gifts for his girlfriend, according to investigators. He was also convicted of armed robbery, burglary and the attempted murder that same night of another couple who lived nearby.

Local media reported at the time that Gaskin quickly confessed to the crimes and told a psychologist before his trial that he knew what he was doing.

“The guilt was always there,” Gaskin said. “The devil had more of a hold than God did. I knew that I was wrong. I wasn’t insane.”

Jurors voted 8-4 in 1990 to recommend the death sentence, which the judge accepted. Florida law now requires a unanimous jury vote for capital punishment, although the Legislature could send DeSantis a bill this week that would allow 8-4 jury recommendations for capital punishment.

The state and U.S. supreme courts had rejected appeals Gaskin filed since his death warrant was signed, with the latest denial coming Tuesday.

On Wednesday, April 12, 2023 at 3:47:00 PM UTC-7, Big Mongo wrote:
> https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/2023/04/12/florida-execution-desantis-ninja-killer-louis-gaskin-death-lethal-injection/
>
>The meal included BBQ pork ribs, pork and turkey neck, Buffalo wings, shrimp fried rice, french fries and water.
>

A great choice for the last meal, except for the choice of the last beverage. Water?

Thanks a heap for your posting, Mongo; somehow I missed this in-state story.. And barring your posting, I thusly would have missed one of the most gratifying execution stories ever.

But NOT because I'm happy to see this guy die, in spite of my serious support for the death penalty. Rather, as I've stated often herein at alt.obits, I don't like ANYONE to die for various philosophical reasons but most notably simply because I don't buy this afterlife business that so many of y'all out there not only BELIEVE, but ALSO claim to somehow KNOW is the case. (For my part, I certainly don't KNOW, but merely BELIEVE that no one ever in history has come back to life after death, MUCH LESS that there is some variety of afterlife, heavenly, hellish or anywhere in between.)

No, Mongo, the reason this is pretty much the most gratifying execution story I've read in years if not decades is that part about what the eventually-condemned man said to that therapist early on: that this didn't happen because of some mental illness or ANY OTHER excuse--he instead knew WHEN HE WAS DOING IT it was "wrong", not only after he didn't get away with it in the long run, realizing too late that violent crime doesn't pay.

Indeed, Mongo, I'm so exhausted of perps slinging every variety of non-excusing excuse for their behavior that, seeing this guy own up to it all, (1) had I happened to be impaneled on his jury and (2) that extended admission-to-the-therapist was not for some good (or bad) reason kept from the jury, that (3) even better, he "took the stand" and looked the jury in the eye and gave us all his full explanation of his thinking then and now, that (4) I may have argued in the jury's decisive proceedings to my fellow 11 jurors that he SHOULD get some mercy! ("So come on, Panel, let's all agree to give him a seriously stiff sentence but not the needle--how about recommending no parole before age 70!" or some such exhortation that punished him severely yet still afforded long-term hope, but never of any early release on a double-murder conviction, no matter how pristine his incarcerated behavior.)

No, I can't claim that's solid reasoning on my part above; rather, I'm merely offering it up to illustrate how tired I am not merely of violent crime, but even MORE SO tired of violent crime being almost always followed by endless lying by the perp; once they got the cuffs on you, I would think simple decent humanity would compel anyone with a conscience to have embarrassment take hold and instantly own up to EVERYTHING (including stuff the cops might have missed!), and then just hope the society and its system then gave me a break, even though I didn't deserve one in the least.

Actually, I suppose the most egregious error in my analysis above is presuming these perps--excepting this latest executed fellow, as I've emphasized--have a conscience.

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

On Monday, April 17, 2023 at 2:23:59 PM UTC-7, radioacti...@gmail.com wrote:

> No, I can't claim that's solid reasoning on my part above; rather, I'm merely offering it up to illustrate how tired I am not merely of violent crime, but even MORE SO tired of violent crime being almost always followed by endless lying by the perp; once they got the cuffs on you, I would think simple decent humanity would compel anyone with a conscience to have embarrassment take hold and instantly own up to EVERYTHING (including stuff the cops might have missed!), and then just hope the society and its system then gave me a break, even though I didn't deserve one in the least.
>
>

There seems to be an unwritten law in prison that every convict must proclaim his innocence. Yes, it is annoying.
But one factor for this might be that it gives them a glimmer of hope for a reversal of their conviction. There may also be peer pressure from other inmates, who would not look kindly upon convicted inmates admitting to their crimes. Not cool. Hence the strange phenomenon of practically every convicted murderer in prison has somehow been framed and is innocent.

In article <d770ea11-f2ce-4f54-9264-e093928c3b90n@googlegroups.com>,
Raul TW <raultenniswarehouse@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Monday, April 17, 2023 at 2:23:59PM UTC-7, radioacti...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>>No, I can't claim that's solid reasoning on my part above; rather, I'm
>>merely offering it up to illustrate how tired I am not merely of violent
>>crime, but even MORE SO tired of violent crime being almost always
>>followed by endless lying by the perp; once they got the cuffs on you, I
>>would think simple decent humanity would compel anyone with a conscience
>>to have embarrassment take hold and instantly own up to EVERYTHING
>>(including stuff the cops might have missed!), and then just hope the
>>society and its system then gave me a break, even though I didn't deserve
>>one in the least.

>There seems to be an unwritten law in prison that every convict must
>proclaim his innocence. Yes, it is annoying. But one factor for this
>might be that it gives them a glimmer of hope for a reversal of their
>conviction. There may also be peer pressure from other inmates, who would
>not look kindly upon convicted inmates admitting to their crimes. Not
>cool.

I seem to have heard about a certain massively guilty person who plead
not-guilty (to all charges) in a Manhattan court room recently (on 4/4).
If anybody ever should have thrown themselves on the mercy of the court, it
is this guy.

But they never do...

>Hence the strange phenomenon of practically every convicted murderer in
>prison has somehow been framed and is innocent.

I think it is at least in part due to our culture (of Perry Mason, Matlock,
et al, leading up to the "Innocence Project" and others like that), where
everybody loves the story of the falsely accused person finally winning out
over the system. Makes far better drama than the humdrum, everyday reality.

--
Debating creationists on the topic of evolution is rather like trying to
play chess with a pigeon --- it knocks the pieces over, craps on the
board, and flies back to its flock to claim victory.

On Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 1:46:35 AM UTC-7, Kenny McCormack wrote:
>
>
> I seem to have heard about a certain massively guilty person who plead
> not-guilty (to all charges) in a Manhattan courtroom recently (on 4/4).
> If anybody ever should have thrown themselves on the mercy of the court, it
> is this guy.
>

Nobody is above the law but those trumped-up charges in the Manhattan courtroom are obviously politically motivated. Even the legal analysts that CNN trouts out say the Manhattan DA has a weak case. It is true.

Compare and contrast to the mountain of incriminating evidence on the laptop from hell. Emails explicitly detailing White House meetings between the VP and the business associates of his son. All corroborated by White House visitor logs. Even though the President adamantly insists he had absolutely no knowledge of his son's business dealings... Right.