Florida inmate James Phillip Barnes forgoes final meal earlier than execution

James Phillip Barnes, a Florida dying row inmate executed Thursday for the brutal 1988 killing of a nurse he beat with a hammer, forwent the customary final meal hours earlier than he was pronounced useless, state corrections officers mentioned. 

The Florida Division of Corrections instructed Fox Information Digital that Barnes declined to request the meal.

State legislation permits inmates to request a final meal, which should be bought domestically and prices not more than $40. 

Barnes, 61, died by deadly injection at 6:31 p.m. native time on the Florida State Jail in Starke.

It was Florida’s fifth execution of the 12 months. 

He was serving a life sentence for the 1997 strangulation of his spouse, Linda Barnes, 44, when he wrote to a state prosecutor in 2005 claiming accountability for the killing of Patricia “Patsy” Miller.

Miller was a nurse who lived in a Melbourne, Florida, condominium and had some adverse interactions with him previous to her homicide. 

“There have been a number of occasions that occurred (with Miller). I felt terribly humiliated, that’s all I can say,” Barnes mentioned within the jailhouse interview with German movie director Werner Herzog.

Barnes killed Miller inside her house on April 20, 1988, and admitted in court docket to raping her twice and hit her within the head with a hammer and set her mattress on hearth. 

Barnes killed his spouse in 1997, after she found that he was dealing medicine. Her physique was discovered stuffed in a closet after she was strangled, court docket information present. Barnes has claimed to have killed no less than two different folks however has by no means been charged in these instances.

Within the jailhouse interview, Barnes mentioned he transformed to Islam and needed to clear his conscience in regards to the Miller case in the course of the holy month of Ramadan.

“They are saying I’m remorseless. I’m not. There aren’t any extra questions on this case. And I’m going to be executed,” Barnes mentioned.