James Dennis Ford, a Florida death row inmate convicted of brutally murdering a young couple in front of their 23-month-old daughter in 1997, had his final meal before he was executed by lethal injection on Thursday.
He was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m. ET, becoming the first person executed in Florida in 2025 and the fourth in the U.S. this year, USA Today reported.
Before his execution, Ford, 64, was given a final meal of steak, macaroni and cheese, fried okra, sweet potato, pumpkin pie, and sweet tea, according to the Florida Department of Corrections. He also received visits from three family members earlier in the day.
Ford was sentenced to death for the murders of co-worker Gregory Malnory and his wife Kimberly, whom he invited on a fishing trip in Punta Gorda in April 1997. He shot, bludgeoned, and slit the throat of Gregory before turning his attention to Kimberly, whom he raped, beat, and fatally shot.
The couple's 23-month-old daughter, Maranda, survived the attack. She was found strapped into her carseat after 18 hours, covered in insect bites and her mother's blood.
Though Ford's defense team argued that he had mental impairments and a troubled past, the courts upheld his sentence. The Malnory family, including Maranda, now an adult, have long awaited justice for the horrific crime.
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