Florida carries out 14th execution of the year

STARKE, Fla. — A man convicted of killing a teenage girl who rejected his romantic advances and wounding two of her friends was put to death Tuesday in the first of three executions planned this month in Florida.

Harold Gene Lucas, 74, was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was condemned for the 1976 shooting death of 16-year-old Jill Piper and the wounding of her friends, Richard Byrd Jr. and Terri Rice.

Lucas was strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the death chamber curtain arose on schedule at 6 p.m. Asked by a warden if he had any words, he responded, “No.”

The drugs began flowing soon afterward and Lucas began breathing heavily and then gasping before he stopped moving. Minutes later, the warden shook Lucas and shouted his name, but there was no response. A medic was called in and declared Lucas dead.

Lucas was the 14th prisoner executed in Florida this year, and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed death warrants for two more lethal injections later this month. Florida has carried out more than half of the two dozen executions conducted in the U.S. this year.

Lucas declined to file any last-ditch appeals, telling a judge: "I’ve been on death row for 50 years, and I have no desire to carry this any further,” according to court transcripts. “The sooner it’s over, the better I’ll enjoy it. I am tired.”

Murder victim's brother expresses relief

Lester Piper, Jill’s brother, said it was good to see the legal process finally at an end.

“I don’t know if closure is the right word to use, but I do believe there’s a big sense of relief,” Piper said after witnessing the execution.

Janice Rice, whose sister Terri survived the attack on Piper, said she was sorry her sister was no longer alive to witness the injection.

“Terri survived that horrific night 50 years ago and lived with the trauma and pain for 44 years,” Rice said afterward. “She wanted more than anything to be here today to witness justice for Jill, but God had other plans for her.”

Man had confrontations with the victim before the attack

Lucas was 24 in August 1976 when he was arrested for trespassing at Piper's Bonita Springs home, south of Fort Myers, according to court records. Lucas had known the teen for four years and had worked for her family, officials said. Lucas and Piper had previously dated, the records showed.

About a week after the arrest, Lucas and Piper had two separate confrontations hours apart, investigators said. Witnesses testified Lucas threatened to kill Piper.

Piper asked Byrd and Rice to spend that night at her home for protection, officials said. Lucas eventually showed up with a rifle and shot Piper multiple times while she begged for her life and then shot and wounded her friends, investigators said. Lucas was arrested the next day.

Lucas was sentenced to death and resentenced several times

Convicted of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder, Lucas was sentenced to death — and eventually resentenced to death four more times.

Lucas was initially sentenced to death in 1977 with a 12-0 jury recommendation, court records show. The Florida Supreme Court later ruled the trial judge was wrong to consider the heinousness of the attempted murders while deciding the sentence for the murder. That trial judge resentenced Lucas to death in 1980.

By the time a third sentencing was ordered, the original trial judge had died and a new judge was assigned. That judge sentenced Lucas to death in 1985, but the Florida Supreme Court later ruled a new jury should consider a sentence recommendation, though the conviction itself would still stand. The new jury recommended death by 11-1, and Lucas was sentenced to death for a fourth time in 1987. The Florida Supreme Court ruled that sentencing order wasn’t clear, and Lucas received a death sentence again in 1990.

Florida leads in executions

A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025. Florida led that year with 19 executions, a record in the state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

In July, Florida executed two prisoners in one day, the first state in nearly a decade to do so. And two more Florida executions are planned shortly, those of Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., 72, on Sept. 10, and Curtis Wilkie Beasley, 77, on Sept. 29.

Conahan was convicted of kidnapping and strangling a man he had paid to pose for nude photos, and authorities suspect him of similar homicides committed in the 1990s in southwest Florida. Beasley was convicted of beating a woman to death with a hammer and stealing her car in 1995.

All Florida executions are by injection of a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.