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ACLU Issues Disturbing Statement on Execution of Florida Death Row Inmate

The state of Florida executed Duane Owen, one of the state’s longest-held death row inmates, for the separate murders in 1984.

Owen was executed for “killing a 14-year-old babysitter and a 38-year-old mother of two in separate attacks months apart in 1984 while children were sleeping in the homes he targeted,” CBS News reports.

The report stated Owen also raped the two victims.

From CBS News:

Duane Owen was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m. after a lethal injection at Florida State Prison, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office. One of Florida’s longest-held death row inmates, Owen was 23 at the time of the attacks and 62 when he was executed.

Owen declined to make a final statement. The procedure began at 6:01 p.m., with Owen’s arms twitching and his breathing becoming heavier as the sedative took effect. The warden made sure Owen was unconscious before before lethal drugs were administered.

Owen was sentenced to death for the March 24, 1984, rape and fatal stabbing of Karen Slattery, 14, and for the rape and deadly hammer attack two months later on Georgianna Worden, 38. Both killings occurred in Palm Beach County.

Authorities said Owen attacked two other women in Palm Beach County who survived. All four attacks occurred just before and after Owen’s 23rd birthday. Of the more than 290 people on Florida’s death row, Owen was one of the longest held there.

Debbie Johnson, younger sister of Karen Slattery, spoke about Duane Owen’s execution:

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) claimed Owen suffered “cruel and unusual punishment.”

Why?

Because the state of Florida never provided “medically necessary gender-affirming care.”

“The state of Florida never provided medically necessary gender-affirming care to Duane Owen — causing her enormous suffering and violating her right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment for the more than 30 years she was in state custody,” the ACLU wrote.

“In legal papers she drafted, Owen wrote that she “should be accorded the ‘essence of human dignity’ and be allowed to become ‘who she was meant to be'” before her death. No one should be killed by the state. The time to end the racist, unfair and cruel death penalty is now,” the ACLU added.

Critics blasted the ACLU for its barbaric statement:


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