Florida man who killed woman, 8-year-old in Seminole County to be executed next week | FOX 51 Gainesville
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Florida man who killed woman, 8-year-old in Seminole County to be executed next week

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Published  March 14, 2025 7:51am EDT
Seminole County
FOX 35 Orlando

The Brief

    • A Florida man will be executed next week for killing a woman and raping and killing her 8-year-old-granddaughter in Seminole County in 1993.
    • Edward James was sentenced to death in 1995 for the murders and also received prison sentences on other charges.
    • Arguments were made in both state and federal courts regarding his execution. Ultimately, the Supreme Court rejected claims related to issues like James' cognitive decline.

A Florida man convicted of killing a woman and raping and killing her 8-year-old-granddaughter in Seminole County in 1993 is set to be executed next week.

Edward James 63, is set to be executed on March 20 at the Florida State Prison, according to the Associated Press.

The backstory:

On Sept. 19, 1993, James brutally attacked 8-year-old Toni Neuner, who was staying at the home of her grandmother, Betty Dick, before he murdered the 58-year-old woman as well. James had been renting a room in Dick’s home.

According to court records, James strangled Neuner before raping her and then throwing her body across the room. The young girl suffered grievous internal injuries and was strangled to death.

Booking photo of Edward James via the Florida Department of Corrections

James then went to the bedroom of Neuner’s grandmother, intending to have sex with her. Instead, he stabbed her more than 20 times with two different knives, records show.

James pleaded guilty to the murders and charges of child abuse and kidnapping. He also pleaded no contest to additional charges that he claimed he could not remember.

He was sentenced to death in 1995.

Court rejects bid to stop execution

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Feb. 18 issued a death warrant for James, leading to arguments in state and federal courts about whether he should be executed. The state Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously upheld a decision by Seminole County Circuit Judge Melanie Chase, who rejected arguments about issues such as James’ cognitive decline.

In a Supreme Court brief, James’ attorney, Dawn Macready, argued that drug and alcohol use since childhood, multiple head injuries and a near-fatal heart attack in 2023 helped lead to James suffering the decline.

The brief said James’ brain was deprived of oxygen during the heart attack at Union Correctional Institution. It said results of a CT scan after the heart attack should be treated as "newly discovered evidence" to bolster arguments about halting the execution.

But the Supreme Court on Thursday agreed with Chase, who wrote that "even if the CT scan results constituted newly discovered evidence, defendant cannot establish that such evidence would likely yield a less severe sentence at a new penalty phase."

Florida executions of 2025 so far

James' execution will be the second in Florida this year. Earlier in March, James Dennis Ford was executed for the 1997 murder of a couple in Charlotte County.

This week, DeSantis also signed a death warrant for Michael Tanzi. who was convicted in the 2000 murder of a woman in Monroe County. Tanzi is scheduled to be executed April 8.

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The Source: This story was written based on information shared by the Associated Press and News Service of Florida. 

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