Mark Dean Schwab (December 16, 1968 – July 1, 2008) was an American murderer and child rapist. He was convicted of the April 18, 1991

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

and

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

of 11-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez, Jr. and imprisoned at Raiford Prison in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. Schwab was convicted of the crime in 1992 and

sentenced to death 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 ...

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 ...

. In addition, he received two

life sentences 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 fo ...

The crimes and arrest

Schwab was released from prison on March 4, 1991, after serving three years of an eight-year sentence for the aggravated rape of a 13-year-old boy committed in 1987. The rest of his sentence was commuted and he was placed on 15 years of

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...

. A month later,

Cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...

resident Junny Rios-Martinez, Jr. went missing. Schwab had seen Junny's picture in the March 21, 1991 edition of ''

Florida Today ''Florida Today'' is the major daily newspaper serving Brevard County, Florida. Al Neuharth of the Gannett corporation started the paper in 1966, and some of the things he did with this newspaper presaged what he would later do at USA Today. I ...

''. He became friendly with the boy and his family, introducing himself as an associate of Malcom Denemark from that newspaper. After getting to know Junny, Schwab exploited his interest in surfing by saying he had left ''Florida Today'' for a job at a surfing magazine. On April 18, 1991, Junny was spotted getting into a

U-Haul U-Haul is an American moving truck, trailer, and self-storage rental company, based in Phoenix, Arizona, that has been in operation since 1945. The company was founded by Leonard Shoen in Ridgefield, Washington, who began it in the garage owned ...

truck. On April 20, 1991, Schwab called his aunt in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, claiming a man named "Donald" forced him to kidnap and rape Junny, under threat of killing Junny's mother, Vicki. The next day, police tapped a phone call with Schwab's aunt's permission, and determined Schwab's location. Schwab was arrested, and led police to Junny's dead body, found in Canaveral Groves, a rural area of

Brevard County, Florida Brevard County ( ) is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 606,612, making it the 10th-most populated county in Florida. The official county seat is located in Ti ...

in a footlocker that was "nearly shut" covered in palm fronds, debris, and wrapped in

rope A rope is a group of yarns, plies, fibres, or strands that are twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have tensile strength and so can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger than similarly ...

Trial

On May 15, 1991, Schwab appeared in a state court in Brevard County, pleading not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping a child under age 13 and sexual assault of a child under age 13. Prosecutors sought the

death penalty 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 ...

. Schwab waived his right to a

jury trial A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a Trial, legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or Question of law, findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial in which a judge or Judicial panel, panel of judges makes all decisions. ...

, and was convicted on May 22, 1992. At trial, witnesses had testified that Schwab was raped at gunpoint by a friend's father as a child. On July 1, 1992, he was sentenced to death for the murder, and given two

life sentence 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 ...

s for the kidnapping and

sexual battery Battery is a criminal Offence (law), offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault which is the act of creating apprehension of such contact. Battery is a specific common law offense, although the term is used more general ...

of a child under the age of 13. In addition, his probation was revoked on the previous rape conviction, and he was re-sentenced to an additional life sentence, giving him a total of three life sentences. The case led to the passage of the Junny Rios-Martinez, Jr., Act of 1992, which prohibited those convicted of sexual battery from receiving early release in the state of Florida.

In prison

Schwab's

Florida Department of Corrections The Florida Department of Corrections operates state prisons in the U.S. state of Florida. It has its headquarters in Florida's capital of Tallahassee. The Florida Department of Corrections operates the third largest state prison system in the ...

prisoner number was 111129. After his sentence, he was housed 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, Florida Starke is a city in and the county seat of Bradford County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,796 at the 2020 census. The origin of the city's name is disputed. Starke may have been named in honor of local landowner George W. Cole's ...

Stays of execution

On December 15, 2006,

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 ...

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. Bush a ...

suspended all pending executions until further notice after the execution of

Ángel Nieves Díaz Ángel Nieves Díaz (August 31, 1951 – December 13, 2006) was a Puerto Rican convict and a suspected serial killer who was death penalty, executed by lethal injection by Florida.

had taken much longer than usual. This ban was lifted when the new Governor of Florida,

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 Schwab's

death warrant An execution warrant (also called death warrant or black warrant) is a writ that authorizes the execution of a condemned person. An execution warrant is not to be confused with a " license to kill", which operates like an arrest warrant but ...

on July 18, 2007. Schwab was then transferred to

. He was scheduled for execution by means of

on November 15, 2007, at 6:00 p.m. EST. However, federal judge

Anne C. Conway Anne C. Conway (born July 30, 1950) is an American lawyer and Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. She is also serving as a Judge on the United States Foreign Intelligence Sur ...

granted a stay of execution on November 14. On November 15, the

11th Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (in case citations, 11th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following U.S. district courts: * Middle District of Alabama * Northern District of Alabama * ...

ruled that the execution could proceed, but the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

blocked the execution later that same day pending a

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

case that challenged the three-drug combination used for lethal injection in both Florida and Kentucky. The Supreme Court upheld Kentucky's death penalty on April 16, 2008, by a vote of 7 to 2. Crist signed a new death warrant for Schwab the next day, without a date for execution. On May 19, the Supreme Court specifically denied Schwab's appeal, permitting Crist to reschedule the execution. Schwab's final appeal to the Florida Supreme Court was denied because similar claims had already been declined by the Supreme Court.

Death

Schwab was executed by

on July 1, 2008, and pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. He declined to make a last statement.

References

External links

Profile of the Mark Dean Schwab case
at Florida's Capital Crimes Database (Word document)
Mark D. Schwab vs. State of Florida - Case no. 80,289
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwab, Mark Dean 1968 births 2008 deaths 1991 murders in the United States American kidnappers American prisoners sentenced to death American rapists American murderers of children American people convicted of murder 21st-century executions of American people People executed for murder People executed by Florida by lethal injection People from Brevard County, Florida 21st-century executions by Florida People convicted of murder by Florida People from Dover, Ohio Executed people from Ohio Violence against men in North America