Inmate screams ‘murderers!’ as he’s executed for ’93 slaying
STARKE — A Florida inmate convicted of raping and killing a college student decades ago screamed and yelled “murderers!” three times, thrashing on a gurney as he was being put to death Thursday.
The governor’s office said Eric Scott Branch, 47, was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. Thursday after receiving a lethal injection at Florida State Prison. Branch was convicted of the 1993 rape and fatal beating of University of West Florida student Susan Morris, 21, whose naked body was found buried in a shallow grave near a nature trail.
Just as officials were administering the lethal drugs that included a powerful sedative, Branch let out a loud, blood-curdling scream, thrashed about on his gurney and then yelled “murderers! murderers! murderers” before falling silent with a guttural groan.
Moments earlier, he had addressed the corrections officers in the room with him by saying that, instead of them carrying out the death sentence, it should have been Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“Let them come down here and do it. I’ve learned that you’re good people and this is not what you should be doing,” Branch told the officers.
Asked whether Branch’s scream could have been caused by the execution drugs, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Michelle Glady said afterward that “there was no indication” that the scream was caused by the lethal injection procedure. She said that conclusion had been confirmed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
After Thursday’s execution, the Morris family issued a statement saying they are still mourning the victim’s death a quarter century ago.
“Twenty-five years ago, Susan’s life was suddenly and brutally extinguished. We have grieved for her longer that she was with us. Yet because of who she was ... she will never be forgotten by those who love her,” said the statement read out by the victim’s sister, Wendy Morris Hill.
Outside the prison, Herman Lindsey joined antideath penalty protesters. Lindsey, a former death row inmate who was exonerated in 2009, said he wants to see the practice abolished.
“There’s no way to guarantee we’re not killing innocent people,” he said.
Evidence in the case shows that Branch approached Morris after she left a night class on Jan. 11, 1993, so he could steal her red Toyota and return to his home state of Indiana. He was arrested there.
In denying one of Branch’s appeals, the Florida Supreme Court noted that the crime was particularly brutal. “She had been beaten, stomped, sexually assaulted and strangled. She bore numerous bruises and lacerations, both eyes were swollen shut,” the justices wrote.