Victor Tony Jones, aged 64, was executed on Tuesday at the Florida State Prison near Starke for the murder of a married couple during a robbery in 1990. This marked the 13th execution in the state this year, beginning promptly at 6:00 p.m. Jones chose not to make a final statement, simply responding with “no, sir.”
During the execution, the warden tried to awaken Jones to no avail. Eventually, a medic entered the death chamber and pronounced Jones dead at 6:13 p.m. The procedure went smoothly with no reported complications, according to the Daily Star.
Irene Fisher, the victims’ daughter, expressed her thoughts on the execution, wishing her parents could have passed away as peacefully. She recounted the violent deaths of her parents – her father fought for 20 minutes with a stab wound to his heart, while her mother died instantly on a cold bathroom floor.
In December 1990, Jones, a recent hire at a Miami business owned by Matilda and Jacob Nestor, fatally stabbed the couple. Despite being injured, Jacob managed to shoot Jones in the forehead after a brief struggle. Jones was found at the scene with the Nestors’ belongings in his possession.
Convicted in 1993, Jones received the death penalty for two counts of first-degree murder and armed robbery. Fisher, along with her daughters and other relatives, witnessed Jones’s execution.
While conflicted about witnessing a death for the first time, Fisher expressed relief that justice had been served. The Nestors’ former business location in Miami’s Wynwood area now serves as a community center, a place where her parents would have been proud to see their legacy continue.
Florida, having executed more individuals this year than any other state, surpassed its previous record of eight executions in 2014. Despite Jones’s appeal based on intellectual disability and past mistreatment, the Florida Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court upheld his sentence, leading to his execution.
Jones’s legal battle ended just hours before his death as the final appeal was dismissed without comment by the U.S. Supreme Court.