TALLAHASSEE — Less than a week before convicted murderer James Ford is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection, the Florida Supreme Court on Friday unanimously rejected an appeal aimed at blocking the execution.
The Supreme Court issued a 22-page opinion upholding a Jan. 23 decision by Charlotte County Circuit Judge Lisa Porter, who turned down arguments by Ford’s attorneys. Ford is scheduled to be executed Thursday at Florida State Prison in the 1997 murders of Greg and Kimberly Malnory at a Charlotte County sod farm.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Jan. 10 issued a death warrant for Ford, 64, who would become the first inmate executed in Florida this year. The Supreme Court on Monday also denied a request by Ford’s attorneys for a stay of execution amid the broader legal battle.
In trying to prevent the execution, Ford’s attorneys have argued, in part, that he had the mental and developmental age of a 14-year-old when he committed the murders. Ford was 36 at the time of the murders.
The attorneys have tried to draw a connection with a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision, known as Roper v. Simmons, that barred executing defendants who were under age 18 at the time of their crimes. The Supreme Court said such executions would violate the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
But the Florida Supreme Court on Friday said the argument by Ford’s attorneys was “untimely and meritless.” The opinion said that “even assuming that Ford could not have raised the legal basis of this claim until Roper was issued in 2005, his claim is still nearly two decades too late.”
“Moreover, this (Florida Supreme) Court has repeatedly rejected the argument that Roper’s holding that the execution of an individual who was younger than 18 years at the time of the murder(s) violates the Eighth Amendment should be extended to defendants whose mental or developmental age was less than 18 at the time of their offenses. … And because Ford was 36 at the time of the murders, it is impossible for him to demonstrate that he falls within the ages of exemption, rendering his claim facially insufficient and therefore properly summarily denied,” the opinion said.
Ford worked with Greg Malnory at the sod farm and made plans to go fishing on a Sunday with the couple at the farm, which was in a remote area. The next day, April 7, 1997, another employee discovered the couple’s bodies.
Friday’s opinion said Greg Malnory was shot in the head, beaten and had his throat slit, while Kimberly Malnory was raped, beaten and shot. The couple also had a 22-month-old daughter, who was left in a car seat in their pickup truck for more than 18 hours after the murders, the opinion said.
“Kimberly suffered nine blunt force injuries to her head, one of which fractured and penetrated her skull,” Friday’s opinion said. “Ford raped Kimberly and stuck the barrel of his rifle in her mouth before firing through her palate. Defensive wounds on the backs of Kimberly’s arms indicated that she put up a struggle.”
Ford received two death sentences and has unsuccessfully pursued past appeals in state and federal courts.
While the Florida Supreme Court and Porter rejected attempts to halt the execution after the death warrant was issued, last-ditch appeals in such cases often go as far as the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops also said Friday that it has asked DeSantis to grant a stay of execution and commute Ford’s sentence to life in prison.
In a letter last month to DeSantis, Michael Sheedy, executive director of the conference, said that life in prison “is still a severe punishment which also serves to protect society from further danger from Mr. Ford.”
“The intrinsic dignity and unalienable rights of every human being are not annihilated by even gravely evil acts,” Sheedy wrote. “Mr. Ford still deserves to be treated in accordance with that dignity. Commuting Mr. Ford’s sentence enables the state of Florida to serve the requirements of justice without vengeance.”