The Tallahassee Citizens against the Death Penalty are attempting to have Paul Howell granted a stay of execution.
Sheila Meehan, the chair for TCAD, said the group wants to bring attention to Howell’s case and reduce the amount of executions in Florida.
“We are concerned because Paul Howell never got his case heard before a federal court,” Meehan said. “We want to bring awareness to his case and get Gov. (Rick) Scott to grant a stay of executions.At a time when other states are taking another look at the idea of killing its own citizens, Florida has decided to pick up the pace.”
Howell is scheduled to be executed Wednesday because he was convicted of killing state trooper, Jimmy Fulford, in 1992.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, Scott has signed off on 14 death warrants since the beginning of his term in 2011.
Alexis Barini, a freshman business administration student at FAMU from Fort Lauderdale, said she had no idea that so many people had been executed Scott’s reign and that Florida needs to reconsider its death penalty policies.
“At the end of the day, it’s not an everyday situation,” Barini said. “Although what Howell is accused of is unthinkable, I don’t agree with killing him with substances that haven’t [been] identified by the U.S government.”
Jared Bush, a fourth-year biology student from Columbus, Ohio, said he thinks the death penalty is necessary.
“At the end of the day, he took someone’s life, an officer of the court, at that,” Bush said. “If we don’t show society that there is measurable justice for heinous crimes, the prisons’ numbers will only continue to rise.”
TCAD said if a stay is not granted for Howell, members will hold a vigil for him at the time of his scheduled execution at 6 p.m. in front of the Governor’s Mansion.