Florida Executes Killer Handyman
Clouds hover over the entrance of the Florida State Prison in Starke, Florida. (AP Photo/Curt Anderson, file)
A man convicted of killing a woman during a home invasion more than three decades ago was executed Tuesday evening in Florida, according to the Associated Press.
Mark Allen Geralds, 58, was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. after receiving a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison. He had been sentenced to death for the February 1989 murder of Tressa Pettibone.
Geralds’ execution was the 18th carried out in Florida this year, setting a new state record for the most executions in a single year. One additional execution is scheduled for next week.
When asked for any final statement, Geralds spoke briefly to someone by name, though it could not be heard clearly. He said, “I’m sorry that I missed you,” and later added, “I loved you every day.”
Pettibone was attacked in her Panama City home on Feb. 1, 1989. According to court records, her 8-year-old son returned home from school later that day and discovered her body on the kitchen floor. She had been fatally stabbed.
Geralds, a carpenter, had previously performed remodeling work at the home about a year before the killing. Court documents state that approximately a week before the murder, Geralds encountered Pettibone and her two children at a shopping mall, where she mentioned her husband was out of town on business. Investigators said Geralds later spoke with Pettibone’s son at a video arcade, asking when the boy’s father would return and about the children’s daily school schedule.
Evidence showed that Geralds pawned jewelry containing Pettibone’s blood on the day of the attack. Plastic ties used to bind Pettibone were found to match those discovered in Geralds’ car, according to court records.
Geralds was convicted of murder, armed robbery, and related charges in 1990 and sentenced to death. Although the Florida Supreme Court later overturned the sentence, it upheld the conviction. Geralds was resentenced to death in 1992.
After a death warrant was signed last month, Geralds informed a judge that he did not wish to pursue further legal appeals. The judge approved the request.
Including Geralds, 45 men have been executed in the United States so far this year. Several more executions are scheduled before the end of the year. Florida’s previous record for executions in a single year was eight, set in 2014.
Florida’s 19th execution of the year is scheduled for Dec. 18. Frank Athen Walls, 58, was convicted of killing a man and a woman during a home invasion robbery and later confessed to three additional murders.
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