Florida executed its 15th inmate of the year on Tuesday evening, marking a record number of executions under Governor Ron DeSantis and the highest total for any state in 2025.
Norman Mearle Grim Jr., 65, was put to death by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Starke. According to officials, Grim declined to make a final statement before the procedure began and was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m. There were no reported complications during the execution.
Grim was convicted in the 1998 rape and brutal murder of his neighbor, Cynthia Campbell. Her battered and stabbed body was discovered in the waters near the Pensacola Bay Bridge after she was reported missing in July of that year. Autopsy results showed Campbell had been struck repeatedly in the head with a hammer and stabbed 11 times in the chest — with seven wounds piercing her heart. DNA evidence linked Grim to the crime.
The case shocked the Pensacola community and has lingered in Florida’s death row system for over two decades. Earlier this month, Grim waived his remaining appeals, paving the way for Tuesday’s execution.
Grim began his final day at 6 a.m. with a last meal of fried pork chops, mashed potatoes, and a chocolate milkshake. He declined both visitors and a spiritual advisor.
This execution pushes Florida beyond its previous record of eight executions in a single year, set in 2014. The state now leads the nation in executions for 2025, ahead of Texas and Alabama, which have each carried out five.
Two more executions are scheduled for next month. Bryan Fredrick Jennings, 66, is set to be executed on November 13 for the 1979 rape and murder of a 6-year-old girl abducted from her bedroom. Richard Barry Randolph, 63, is scheduled for November 20 for the 1988 rape and fatal beating of his former manager during a robbery at a convenience store.
Florida uses a three-drug lethal injection protocol consisting of a sedative, a paralytic, and a drug to induce cardiac arrest. State officials have expressed confidence in the reliability and legality of the method amid ongoing national debate over capital punishment.
Governor DeSantis has made tough-on-crime policies central to his administration, including a push to expedite death penalty cases and broaden eligibility for capital punishment in certain crimes.
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