James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, has been executed at Florida State Jail after being convicted of the rape and homicide of his 13-year-old step-niece Cynthia Driggers
James Ernest Hitchcock (Picture: Florida Division of Corrections)
A demise row prisoner who raped, beat and strangled his step-niece to demise has been executed. James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, carried out the horrific crime 50 years in the past after the 13-year-old threatened to inform her mom what he had accomplished.
He was administered a three-drug deadly injection at Florida State Jail, the place he was first sentenced to demise in 1977 following his conviction for first-degree homicide within the July 31, 1976 killing of Cynthia Driggers.
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After a succession of appeals, he was resentenced to demise in 1988, 1993 and 1996, in response to NBC Information.
Courtroom information reveal that Hitchcock was out of labor and had moved into his brother’s Orlando residence a number of weeks previous to murdering his brother’s stepdaughter.
Following a number of hours of consuming beer and smoking marijuana with buddies, Hitchcock returned to the household residence, he advised police after his arrest.
Hitchcock, who was 20-years-old on the time, entered the 13-year-old woman’s bed room and raped her, investigators stated.
When the woman advised Hitchcock she had been harm and supposed to tell her mom, Hitchcock tried to forestall her from leaving the room earlier than starting to choke her, officers stated, reviews <a href=”https://www.dailystar.co.uk/information/us-news/death-row-rapist-executed-murdering-37094294″>the Day by day Star</a>.
Hitchcock dragged the woman outdoors, the place he beat and strangled her till she stopped shifting, earlier than leaving her physique hid in close by bushes.
He then returned inside, showered and went to mattress.
He subsequently testified that his brother entered the woman’s room shortly after she and Hitchcock had engaged in consensual intercourse.
Hitchcock alleged that his brother dragged the woman outdoors and proceeded to beat and choke her in a violent rage, claiming she was already lifeless by the point he managed to tug his brother away.
Hitchcock maintained that he had initially accepted duty with a purpose to protect his brother.
The Florida Supreme Courtroom rejected an enchantment final week to droop Hitchcock’s execution.
His authorized staff had argued that he was harmless and that the state had unlawfully denied him entry to public information pertaining to the demise penalty.
Hitchcock’s execution marks Florida’s sixth this 12 months, following a report 19 executions in 2025.
All executions carried out in Florida are administered through deadly injection, comprising a sedative, a paralytic agent and a drug to cease the guts, in response to the Division of Corrections.
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