The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to block the execution of a Florida man, who challenged the state putting him to death based on a nonunanimous jury.
Florida and Alabama don’t require unanimous juries for the death penalty, which makes them outliers.
Edward Thomas James, 63, asked the justices Monday to hold off on his execution, scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, and take up his dispute over the nonunanimous jury issue.
In court filings, James’ lawyers said putting him to death based on a nonunanimous jury verdict runs afoul of the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
The justices were not swayed by the argument and rejected the appeal just hours before his scheduled execution.
James killed a woman and her granddaughter, who was 8 years old, in 1993.
He first raped the granddaughter before strangling her. After that, he went to the grandmother’s room to have sex with her but instead stabbed her to death, according to The Associated Press. James admitted to the killings and had been renting a room from the grandmother at the time.
