Florida death-row inmate set for execution after five decades

A 74-year-old Florida inmate, Harold Gene Lucas, is scheduled for a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison after spending 50 years on death row for the 1976 murder of 16-year-old Jill Piper and wounding two friends. Lucas declined post-conviction appeals, and the case includes multiple death sentences and later resentencings. Florida has carried out more executions this year, with Gov. Ron DeSantis having signed warrants for two additional inmates in September. The article outlines Lucas’s conviction history and the broader context of Florida’s ongoing use of the death penalty.