Gov. DeSantis approves execution for Florida man convicted of murdering 16-year-old, days after rare double execution

SOUTHWEST FLORIDA (WINK) — Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for a man convicted of killing a Bonita Springs teenager nearly 50 years ago.

Harold Gene Lucas, 74, is scheduled to be executed Sept. 1 at Florida State Prison in Raiford by lethal injection. The governor designated an execution window beginning at noon Sept. 1 and ending at noon Sept. 8. Prison officials have scheduled the execution for 6 p.m. Sept. 1. 

The death warrant comes two days after Florida carried out the state's first double execution in more than 60 years, putting two death row inmates to death on the same day.

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Lucas was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1976 killing of 16-year-old Jill Piper. He also was convicted of two counts of attempted first-degree murder for shooting Piper's friends, Ricky Byrd and Terri Rice, during the attack.

According to court records summarized by the Florida Attorney General's Office, Lucas and Piper had argued during the week before the shooting, and Lucas threatened to kill her. Prosecutors said Lucas went to Piper's home on Aug. 13, 1976, armed with a rifle and opened fire while Piper and her friends were standing in the yard. Piper was shot and made it inside the home, where prosecutors said Lucas followed her and shot her several more times. Byrd and Rice survived.

Lucas was convicted of first-degree murder in February 1977. His original death sentence was overturned on appeal, but after multiple resentencing proceedings, the Florida Supreme Court upheld a new death sentence in 1992. State and federal courts have since rejected additional appeals and post-conviction challenges.

The death warrant states that executive clemency was considered and denied before DeSantis signed the warrant Thursday.

Following the signing of the death warrant, the Florida Supreme Court ordered any remaining proceedings in Lucas' case to move on an expedited schedule. The court directed that any trial court proceedings be completed by Aug. 14 and established deadlines for any appeals and briefs filed before the scheduled execution.