Florida sets execution date for man who raped and murdered his former manager at a convenience store
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of raping and fatally beating his former manager at a Florida convenience store is scheduled to be executed in November under a death warrant signed Tuesday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. record speed in executions.
Richard Barry Randolph, 63, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on November 20 at Florida State Prison. Randolph will be the 17th person to be executed in Florida in 2025; DeSantis oversaw more executions in a single year than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The previous record was set in 2014 with eight executions.
DeSantis signed his death warrant a week before the scheduled execution on October 28. Norman Mearle Grim Jr. Another convicted murderer Bryan Frederick JenningsHe is scheduled to die on November 13.
Randolph was convicted of murder, armed robbery, sexual assault, and grand larceny and sentenced to death in 1989.
In August 1988, Randolph tried to break into the cash register at the Handy-Way convenience store in Patatka, where he previously worked, according to court records. Randolph was spotted by manager Minnie Ruth McCollum and the two began to struggle. Randolph then beat, strangled, stabbed and raped McCollum before leaving the store and taking the woman’s car.
Three women witnessed Randolph leaving the store and called the sheriff’s office after seeing through the window that the store was in disarray. A deputy responded and found McCollum still alive. He was hospitalized while in a coma and died six days later due to severe brain damage, according to doctors.
According to deputies, Randolph was arrested shortly after the attack at a grocery store in Jacksonville while trying to borrow money and cash from lottery tickets stolen from the store. Investigators said Randolph admitted to the attack and directed them to the bloody clothing he had discarded.
Randolph’s lawyers are expected to appeal to the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.
so far 39 people He was executed in the USA in 2025. Florida leads the way with a series of death warrants signed by DeSantis. The state’s most recent execution was lethal injection on October 14 Samuel Lee SmithersHe was found guilty of murdering two women whose bodies were dumped in a rural pond.
