John Marek (murderer)
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John Richard Marek (September 17, 1961 – August 19, 2009) was an American
death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...
inmate at
Florida State Prison Florida State Prison (FSP), otherwise known as Raiford Prison, is a correctional institution located in unincorporated Bradford County, Florida. It was formerly known as the "Florida State Prison-East Unit" as it was originally part of Florida St ...
for the rape and murder of a woman in 1983. Marek was executed on August 19, 2009.


Kidnapping and murder

On June 16, 1983, Adella Marie Simmons, a 45-year-old mother of two, and her
Barry University Barry University is a private Catholic university in Miami Shores, Florida. Founded in 1940 by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, it is one of the largest Catholic universities in the Southeast and is within the territory of the Archdiocese of Miami ...
co-worker Jean Trach were returning home from a holiday trip, when their car broke down on
Florida's Turnpike Florida's Turnpike, designated as unsigned State Road 91 (SR 91), is a toll road in the U.S. state of Florida, maintained by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE). Spanning approximately along a northwest–southeast axis, the turnpike is in two s ...
in
Broward County Broward County ( , ) is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 ...
. John Marek and his accomplice Raymond Dewayne Wigley stopped and convinced Adella Marie Simmons to ride with them to a service station. They instead took her to a beach about 60 miles away, where she was repeatedly sexually assaulted, and then strangled with a
bandana A kerchief (from the Old French ''couvrechief'', "cover head"), also known as a bandana, bandanna, or "Wild Rag" (in cowboy culture), is a triangular or square piece of cloth tied around the head, face or neck for protective or decorative purpos ...
and burned. Marek's accomplice Raymond Wigley was killed by fellow inmate John Richard Blackwelder while serving
life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
in 2000. At trial, Blackwelder said he killed Wigley because he (Blackwelder) wanted to die. He was sentenced to death for killing Wigley and gave up all his appeals. Blackwelder was executed on May 26, 2004.


Execution

Marek was scheduled to be
executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
by
lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...
on May 13, 2009, inside the
Florida State Prison Florida State Prison (FSP), otherwise known as Raiford Prison, is a correctional institution located in unincorporated Bradford County, Florida. It was formerly known as the "Florida State Prison-East Unit" as it was originally part of Florida St ...
near Starke, Florida, after
Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Charlie Crist Charles Joseph Crist Jr. (; born July 24, 1956) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011 and as the U.S. representative for from 2017 to 2022. Crist has been a member of the Democratic ...
signed a death warrant. However, at the last moment the execution did not go through. On July 16, the
Florida Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Florida is the highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. It consists of seven members: the chief justice and six justices. Six members are chosen from six districts around the state to foster geographic diversity, and one ...
lifted the stay of
execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the State (polity), state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to ...
with Charlie Crist shortly afterwards setting the date of execution to August 19, 2009, at 6 p.m. inside
Florida State Prison Florida State Prison (FSP), otherwise known as Raiford Prison, is a correctional institution located in unincorporated Bradford County, Florida. It was formerly known as the "Florida State Prison-East Unit" as it was originally part of Florida St ...
. Marek's attorney filed a motion claiming there was a new witness attesting that Marek did not kill Simmons. The motion was denied on August 17, 2009, by the judge in the case. Marek was executed on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 6:20 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time, EDT, -0400 UTC), at
Florida State Prison Florida State Prison (FSP), otherwise known as Raiford Prison, is a correctional institution located in unincorporated Bradford County, Florida. It was formerly known as the "Florida State Prison-East Unit" as it was originally part of Florida St ...
, Starke,
Bradford County, Florida Bradford County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,303. Its county seat and largest city is Starke. History New River County, as it was known at the time, was created in 1858 from segment ...
. The method of execution was
lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...
. The execution itself took 13 minutes and Marek was declared dead at 6:33 p.m. Marek had declined sedatives and his final words were "Jesus, remember us sinners", followed by the
Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...
. Marek became the 68th death row inmate to be executed in Florida since the death sentence was reinstated there in 1979.


See also

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Capital punishment in Florida Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Florida. Since 1976, the state has executed 99 convicted murderers, all at Florida State Prison. As of July 8, 2021, 327 offenders are awaiting execution. History Florida performed ...
*
Capital punishment in the United States In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty throughout the country at the federal level, in 27 states, and in American Samoa. It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses. Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 s ...
*
List of people executed in Florida The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of Florida since capital punishment was resumed in the United States in 1976. The total amounts to 103 people. Of the 103 people executed, 44 have been executed by electrocution and 59 h ...
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List of people executed in the United States in 2009 This is a list of people executed in the United States in 2009. Fifty-two people were executed in the United States in 2009. Twenty-four of them were in the state of Texas. One (Larry Bill Elliott) was executed via electrocution. One notable execut ...


References


External links


Inmate Release Information Detail: John Richard MarekInmate details and case updates:John MarekJohn Marek v. State of Florida
Retrieved on 2009-08-21. {{DEFAULTSORT:Marek, John Richard 1961 births 2009 deaths 1983 murders in the United States 21st-century executions by Florida 21st-century executions of American people American kidnappers American rapists American people executed for murder People convicted of murder by Florida People executed by Florida by lethal injection