South Florida Man Convicted Of Stabbing Elderly Woman 26 Years Ago Executed
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MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) - The State of Florida executed a man for beating and stabbing an elderly woman to death in Miami-Dade County 26 years ago.
Authorities say 55-year-old Jose Antonio Jimenez was pronounced dead at 9:48 p.m. Thursday after a lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Starke.
His defense still maintains he didn't do it, saying all the evidence against him was circumstantial, and accusing investigators of lying to pin the crime on him.
Jimenez was convicted of killing 63-year-old Phyllis Minas in 1992.
According to trial transcripts, Minas' neighbors in North Miami said they heard her screaming inside her second-floor apartment, and tried to enter, but someone inside had locked the door. The building's custodian said he saw Jimenez jump from the woman's second-floor balcony. And prosecutors said a fingerprint on the inside of the apartment's front door matched Jimenez's print.
After the week-long trial, Jimenez was found guilty and later sentenced to death.
After his arrest, he was also convicted of a prior burglary and second-degree murder in the 1990 death of Marie Debas in Miami Beach.
Over the years, he's filed various appeals. In an appeal filed with the U.S. Supreme Court this week, Jimenez and his attorneys say detectives who investigated the case gave "false or, at best, misleading testimony," and that several key police reports were lost.
Additionally, his attorneys asked the court to stay the execution and consider whether Florida's lethal injection protocol is cruel and unusual punishment that violates the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Gov. Rick Scott signed the death warrant and scheduled the execution for August. The Supreme Court stayed that, but lifted the stay in October.
According to corrections officials, the execution of Jimenez would be the 28th in Florida since Scott took office in 2011, more than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)