Florida has executed a death row inmate 50 years after he raped and murdered his brother's 13-year-old stepdaughter while Texas put an inmate to death for killing two Christian music producers during a robbery.
The same-day executions by lethal injection came about an hour and a half apart on Thursday, April 30. First Florida executed James Ernest Hitchcock for the 1976 murder of 13-year-old Cynthia "Cindy" Driggers. Hitchcock was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. ET.
“I’ve lived with this for 50 years. I can breathe today," one of Driggers' cousins, Chip Driggers, told reporters after the execution. "Free at last, free at last. Our monster is dead.”
Also Thursday, Texas executed James Broadnax for the 2008 double murder of Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler, two producers of Christian music killed during a robbery outside their studio in the Dallas suburb of Garland. Broadnax was pronounced dead at 7:47 p.m. ET.
"Texas got it wrong," Broadnax said as he lay on the execution gurney, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. "I'm innocent. The facts of my case should speak for itself, period."
