Florida executes a man convicted of killing a woman during a 1989 home invasion

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of fatally stabbing and beating a woman during a home invasion decades ago was executed Tuesday evening in Florida.

Mark Allen Geralds, 58, was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison for the February 1989 murder of Tressa Pettibone. The execution was the 18th in Florida this year, further extending the state record for total executions in a single year with one more planned next week.

Asked if he add any last words, Geralds addressed someone by name, but the name was inaudible. He said, “I’m sorry that I missed you.” He then added, “I loved you every day.”

Once the drugs began flowing, he took about a dozen deep breaths. His body then quivered and twitched, his mouth opening and closing. Withing about three or four minutes, Geralds became still.

Pettibone was attacked in her home on Feb. 1, 1989. Later that day, Pettibone’s 8-year-old son arrived home from school and found his mother fatally stabbed on the kitchen floor of their Panama City home, according to court records. Geralds was a carpenter who had previously done remodeling work at the home about a year before.

About a week before the killing, Geralds ran into Pettibone and her two children at a shopping mall, and Pettibone mentioned that her husband was away on business. Later Geralds approached Pettibone’s son at the video arcade and asked when the boy’s father would return and what time he and his sister left for and returned from school each day, according to the records.

Investigators found that Geralds on the afternoon of the attack had pawned jewelry with traces of Pettibone’s blood on it, and plastic ties used to bind Pettibone matched ties found in Geralds’ car, the records showed.

Geralds was subsequently convicted of murder, armed robbery and other charges and sentenced to death in 1990. The Florida Supreme Court later vacated the sentence but affirmed the conviction, and Geralds was resentenced to death in 1992.

After a death warrant was signed last month and his execution date set, Geralds told a judge he did not wish to pursue any further appeals. The judge signed off on that decision.

Including Gerald’s execution, a total of 45 men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., with a handful of executions scheduled in what remains of the year.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, the highest previous annual total of Florida executions was eight in 2014. Florida has executed more people than any other state this year. Another execution is planned next week in the state under death warrants signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Frank Athen Walls, 58, is scheduled for Florida’s 19th execution this year on Dec. 18. He was convicted of fatally shooting a man and woman during a home invasion robbery and later confessing to three other killings.

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