A Florida man who confessed to the 1997 murder of his wife was executed for the 1988 murder of another woman who he repeatedly raped, strangled with her bathrobe belt, and killed with a hammer, before setting her bed on fire.
James Phillip Barnes, 61, refused a last meal and had nothing to say on Thursday before receiving a lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Starke. He was pronounced dead at 6.13pm.
Barnes was the 104th person executed in Florida since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, according to Department of Corrections records. His execution was Florida’s fifth in the past six months under 2024 Republican presidential candidate Gov Ron DeSantis.
The inmate had been serving a life sentence for the 1997 strangulation of his wife, 44-year-old Linda Barnes, when he wrote letters in 2005 to a state prosecutor claiming responsibility for another murder.
DNA evidence later linked Barnes to the 1988 killing of 41-year-old nurse Patricia “Patsy” Miller and in December 1997, he was sentenced to death.
The sentencing order stated that on 20 April 1988, Barnes broke into Miller’s condo through a bedroom window and repeatedly raped her, strangled her with her bathrobe belt, killed her by striking her head with a hammer, and then set her bed on fire with her body on it to eliminate evidence.
In the letter mailed to Assistant State Attorney Michael Hunt in Viera, Barnes said a fellow inmate, who he described as “my Muslim brother,” had convinced him to “confess an unresolved matter” that happened in 1988 in Melbourne.
“Contrary to popular opinion, I’m not looking to go to death row,” Barnes wrote. “As you can tell from the video, I like fresh air and sunshine and being healthy. I plan on living another 40+ years.”
Just 18 years later, however, Barnes was executed with about 20 witnesses gathered inside an execution-chamber viewing room. The curtain opened to show Barnes on a gurney with IV tubes in his left arm
“James Barnes was a violent and ruthless criminal,” Melbourne Police Chief David Gillespie said in a statement.
“And, while today’s execution ensures he will never harm another individual again, let us not forget the victims and the torture they had endured. My heart goes out to the victims and their families.”
Andrew Miller, the brother of the victim, spoke following the execution praising Melbourne police for their hard work. He also noted the similarities between his sister and Barnes’ other victim, his wife.
"The commonality between these two women? They were both hard-working professionals. They were someone’s daughter. They were someone’s sister. They were someone’s mother," Miller said.
"No one should live in fear within the safety of their own home. We do. My family does," he said.
"The execution took place without incident," Kayla McLaughlin, spokesperson for the Department of Corrections, said during a press conference on Thursday.
