Terry Melvin Sims
Terry Melvin Sims | |
---|---|
First degree murder | |
Details | |
Victims | George Pfeil |
Date | December 29, 1977 |
Country | United States |
State(s) | Florida |
Date apprehended | June 25, 1978 |
Terry Melvin Sims (February 5, 1942 – February 23, 2000)[1] was an American convicted murderer who was executed by the state of Florida for fatally shooting a sheriff's deputy in Longwood, Florida.[2] He was the first Florida inmate executed with the use of lethal injection, after the previous execution, which was conducted under the electric chair, had been seriously botched.[3]
Crime
On December 29, 1977, Sims along with three accomplices, James "B.B." Halsell, Curtis Baldree, and Clarence Eugene Robinson, committed a robbery at the Longwood Village Pharmacy in Longwood, Florida.[2] Sims and Baldree entered the building, while Halsell and Robinson waited in the getaway car. Baldree went toward the back of the store to rob the pharmacist, while Sims watched the front door. They ordered the customers to enter the bathroom.
At the same time, 57-year-old former
Trial
Sims was extradited to Florida to stand trial. At the trial, Halsell and Baldree testified that after Pfeil's murder, Sims bragged that he had "killed him with one bullet".
Execution
In 1999, convicted killer
Sims, who had spent over 20-years on death row, was scheduled to be executed on November 2, 1999. However, a judge awarded Sims a stay of execution, rescheduling it to February 23 the next year.[6] A week before his scheduled execution, Sims challenged the use of lethal injection, but his appeals were denied. On February 23, Sims was executed with the injection method, becoming the first person to be executed with it in Florida.[3][7][8] His final words were "I love my family. I love all my friends and my rabbi".[7] Since his execution, all other executions in Florida have been performed by lethal injection, although inmates can still choose to be executed by the electric chair.[9]
See also
- Capital punishment in Florida
- Capital punishment in the United States
- List of people executed by lethal injection
- List of people executed in Florida
- List of people executed in the United States in 2000
References
- ^ "Inmate Release Information Detail". Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f "Terry Melvin Sims #614". www.clarkprosecutor.org. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ a b "Florida's First Lethal Injection". CBS News. February 23, 2000. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- Sun-Sentinel. January 29, 2000. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ "Florida's Messy Executions Put the Electric Chair on Trial". The New York Times. November 18, 1999. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- Sun-Sentinel. October 26, 1999. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ Sun-Sentinel. February 24, 2000. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- Sun-Sentinel. February 24, 2000. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ "Death row inmate requests electric chair, Florida law may make it possible". WFTS-TV. July 15, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2022.