Florida execution delayed until killer of two denied stay of execution

Starke, Fla — Patrick Hannon, 53 was put to death with a chemical injection and pronounced dead at 8:50 p.m. Wednesday at Florida State Prison in Starke.

The execution was delayed nearly three hours until the U.S. Supreme Court denied a pair of last minute appeals by lawyers for the convicted killer.

Hannon was convicted of slashing one man's throat and fatally shooting another in Hillsborough County 1991. He was the third inmate put death since the state resumed executions in August, following changes made to its death penalty sentencing law.

The law now requires a unanimous jury vote for a death sentence. The state Supreme Court has said cases settled before 2002 don't need a unanimous jury recommendation.

Hannon's lawyers had filed two requests to the court for a stay of execution,arguing that the 53-year-old convicted murderer shouldn't be executed because the state changed its death penalty law this year to require unanimous jury recommendations.

Earlier requests for a halt to his execution to the Florida Supreme Court were denied.