BRADFORD COUNTY, Fla. — Florida is set to execute Samuel Lee Smithers on Tuesday for the 1996 murders of two women, marking the state’s 14th execution this year.
Smithers, 72, was convicted of killing two women whose bodies were discovered in a rural pond in Plant City in Hillsborough County.
This execution contributes to the highest number of executions in Florida in a single year since the reinstatement of the death penalty.
Smithers’ execution underscores Florida’s increased use of capital punishment, with this year seeing the most executions since the death penalty was reinstated.
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