On
this date, July 1, 2008, a Floridian Pedophile, Mark Dean Schwab was executed by
lethal injection in Florida for the April 18, 1991 murder of 11-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez. I will post the information from Wikipedia and other sources.
Mark Dean Schwab
(December 16, 1968 – July 1, 2008) was a prisoner in the state of Florida,
where he was executed for the April 18, 1991, rape and murder of 11-year-old
Junny Rios-Martinez, Jr., eldest son of a musician in the band "The Killer
Dudes". He was convicted of the crime in 1992 and sentenced to death. In
addition, he received two life sentences.
Born
|
December
16, 1968
Dover, Ohio, U.S. |
Died
|
July 1,
2008 (aged 39)
Starke, Florida, U.S. |
Conviction(s)
|
First
degree murder, kidnapping, sexual battery
|
Penalty
|
Death
sentence
|
Conviction
status
|
Executed
|
The crimes and arrest
Schwab
was released from prison on March 4, 1991, after serving three years of an
eight-year sentence for the aggravated rape of a 13-year-old boy committed in
1987. The rest of his sentence was commuted and he was placed on 15 years of
probation.
A
month later, Cocoa resident Junny Rios-Martinez, Jr., went missing. Schwab had
seen Junny's picture in the March 21, 1991 edition of Florida Today. He
became friendly with the boy and his family, introducing himself as an
associate of Malcom Denemark from that newspaper. After getting to know Junny,
Schwab exploited his interest in surfing by saying he had left Florida Today
for a job at a surfing magazine. On April 18, 1991, friends saw Junny get into
a U-Haul truck.
On
April 20, 1991, Schwab called his aunt in Ohio, claiming a man named
"Donald" forced him to kidnap and rape Junny, under threat of killing
Junny's mother, Vicki. The next day, police tapped a phone call with Schwab's
aunt's permission, and determined Schwab's location. Schwab was arrested, and
led police to Junny's dead body, found in Canaveral Groves, a rural area of
Brevard County, Florida in a footlocker that was "nearly shut"
covered in palm fronds, debris and wrapped in rope.
Trial
On
May 15, 1991, Schwab appeared in a state court in Brevard County, pleading not
guilty to charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping a child under age 13 and
sexual assault of a child under age 13. Prosecutors sought the death penalty.
Schwab waived his right to a jury trial, and was convicted on May 22, 1992. At
trial, witnesses had testified that Schwab was raped at gunpoint by a friend's
father as a child. On July 1, 1992, he was sentenced to death for the murder,
and given two life sentences for the kidnapping and sexual battery of a child
under the age of 13. In addition, his probation was revoked on the previous
rape conviction, and he was re-sentenced to an additional life sentence, giving
him a total of three life sentences.
The
case led to the passage of the Junny Rios-Martinez, Jr., Act of 1992, which
prohibited those convicted of sexual battery from receiving early release in
the state of Florida.
In prison
Schwab's
Florida Department of Corrections prisoner number was 111129. After his
sentence, he was housed at Florida State Prison in Starke, Florida.
Stays of execution
On
December 15, 2006, Governor Jeb Bush suspended all pending executions until
further notice after the execution of Ángel Nieves Díaz had taken much longer
than usual. This ban was lifted when the new Governor of Florida, Charlie
Crist, signed Schwab's death warrant on July 18, 2007. Schwab was then
transferred to Florida State Prison. He was scheduled for execution by means of
lethal injection on November 15, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. EST. However, federal judge
Anne C. Conway granted a stay of execution on November 14. On November 15, the
11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the execution could proceed, but the
United States Supreme Court blocked the execution later that same day pending a
Kentucky case that challenged the three-drug combination used for lethal
injection in both Florida and Kentucky.
The
Supreme Court upheld Kentucky's death penalty on April 16, 2008, by a vote of
7-2. Crist signed a new death warrant for Schwab the next day, without a date
for execution. On May 19, the Supreme Court specifically denied Schwab's
appeal, permitting Crist to reschedule the execution. Schwab's final appeal to
the Florida Supreme Court was denied because similar claims had already been
declined by the Supreme Court.
Death
Schwab
was executed by lethal injection on July 1, 2008 and pronounced dead at 6:15
pm. His last meal consisted of fried eggs, bacon, sausage links, hash browns,
buttered toast and a quart of chocolate milk. He declined to make a last
statement.
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