TALLAHASSEE — The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an 11th-hour stay of execution for Edward James, setting the stage for him to be put to death in the 1993 murders of a Seminole County woman and her 8-year-old granddaughter.

The Supreme Court, as is common, did not explain its decision. James is scheduled to be executed at 8 p.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Feb. 18 issued a death warrant for James, who was sentenced to death in the murders of Betty Dick and her granddaughter Toni Neuner. James, now 63, rented a room from Dick and committed the murders after a night of drinking and drug use.

Court documents said James came to the Seminole County home and strangled the child and sexually assaulted her. He then went to Dick’s bedroom, where he intended to have sex with her. He stabbed her to death, the documents said.

James is scheduled to be the second inmate executed in Florida this year. James Ford was executed Feb. 13 in the 1997 murders of a couple in Charlotte County. Also, DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Michael Tanzi, who was convicted in the 2000 murder of a woman in Monroe County. Tanzi is scheduled to be executed April 8.

The death warrant in James’ case touched off a flurry of legal battling. His attorney, Dawn Macready, went to the U.S. Supreme Court after the Florida Supreme Court and a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week rejected appeals aimed at halting the execution.

The Florida Supreme Court upheld a decision by Seminole County Circuit Judge Melanie Chase. In the state-court cases, James’ attorney argued, in part, that drug and alcohol use since childhood, multiple head injuries and a near-fatal heart attack in 2023 helped lead to James suffering “cognitive decline.”

Macready said in a Florida Supreme Court brief that James’ brain was deprived of oxygen during the heart attack at Union Correctional Institution. The brief said results of a CT scan after the heart attack should be treated as “newly discovered evidence” to bolster arguments about halting the execution.

In court documents, Macready also pointed to a non-unanimous jury recommendation before James was sentenced to death and a lengthy period after his conviction and sentencing when he was not represented by an attorney. A judge sentenced James to death after receiving an 11-1 jury recommendation.

“The state of Florida continues to be an extreme outlier when it comes to nonunanimous jury recommendations, thereby rendering Mr. James’ death sentence and impending execution in violation of the (U.S. Constitution) Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment,” Macready wrote Monday in a motion for a stay filed at the U.S. Supreme Court. “Nonunanimous jury recommendations do not comport with the evolving standards of decency; and executing an individual like Mr. James whose death sentence was imposed by a nonunanimous jury recommendation constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.”

The Florida Attorney General’s Office urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the request for a stay and a related request for additional legal proceedings.

Joey Brooks