Florida executes 'ninja killer' Louis Gaskin for 1989 murder of New Jersey couple
RAIFORD, FLORIDA: Florida has executed Louis Bernard Gaskin, a 56-year-old man known as the 'Ninja Killer,' for killing a New Jersey couple while they were on vacation in 1989. Gaskin confessed to the crime and admitted wearing a black ninja outfit when he killed the couple and stole their Christmas presents from their vacation home.
In 1990, the jury voted 8-4 in favor of the death penalty for Gaskin, and the judge upheld their recommendation. However, current Florida law requires a unanimous jury verdict for the death penalty. "The guilt was always there. The devil had more of a hold than God did. I knew that I was wrong. I wasn't insane," Gaskin had confessed earlier.
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Louis Gaskin was executed on April 12, 2023
Kayla McLaughlin Smith, a representative from the Department of Corrections, confirmed that Gaskin's last meal was served at 9.45 am Wednesday, April 12, after he woke up at 4.45 am. He requested BBQ pork ribs, pork and turkey neck, buffalo wings, shrimp fried rice, French fries and water for his last meal. Gaskin was executed at 6.pm at the Florida State Prison in Raiford, which is about 40 miles southeast of Jacksonville. None of the victims' family members were present at the execution, as per Daily Mail .
'No one should be killed by the state'
Outside the prison, protesters called for the abolition of the death penalty and claimed that Gaskin was suffering from mental illness. "Louis Gaskin, a mentally ill Black man sentenced to death by an all-white non-unanimous jury, is scheduled to be executed in Florida at 6.pm. No one should be killed by the state. The time to end the racist, unfair and cruel death penalty is now," tweeted the ACLU of Florida. In a second tweet, they wrote, "We're dispelling Gov DeSantis' claim that anything fewer than a unanimous decision by all twelve jurors is adequate enough to impose a death sentence."
Louis Gaskin, a mentally ill Black man sentenced to death by an all-white non-unanimous jury, is scheduled to be executed in Florida at 6pm.
— ACLU of Florida (@ACLUFL) April 12, 2023
No one should be killed by the state. The time to end the racist, unfair and cruel death penalty is now.https://t.co/CR8vglFDIN
Gov. DeSantis is executing Louis Gaskin this evening, weeks after executing Donald Dillbeck.
— ACLU of Florida (@ACLUFL) April 12, 2023
We’re dispelling Gov. DeSantis’ claim that anything fewer than a unanimous decision by all twelve jurors is adequate enough to impose a death sentence.https://t.co/5Ph5UmOy3z
Gaskin's appeals were rejected by both the state and US Supreme Courts after his death sentence was signed, with the latest rejection coming Tuesday, April 11. Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty submitted a petition signed by 350 religious leaders to Governor Ron DeSantis asking for clemency for Gaskin. They argued that jurors were not told about his traumatic upbringing, which included incest, being forced to eat off the floor, and suffering from "severe family dysfunction" But all of this was ignored.
DeSantis has been signing death warrants at an alarming rate this year as he prepares for his highly anticipated presidential campaign. This execution comes six weeks after the execution of Donald Dillbeck, 59, who murdered 44-year-old Faye Vann in Tallahassee in 1990.
