The death of Mark James Asay was significant in another way: It was the first time that the drug etomidate was used in the United States.
Mark James Asay, 53, was executed Thursday for what prosecutors called the racially motivated shooting of two men in Jacksonville three decades ago.
He became the first white man to be put to death for killing a black man since the state restored capital punishment in the 1970s, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Mr. Asay’s death by lethal injection is a landmark in other ways: It was the first time the drug, etomidate — part of a cocktail — was used in the United States for an execution, and the first execution since the Florida Legislature began requiring a unanimous jury recommendation.
Jurors in Mr. Asay’s case, which was decided before the legislative action, voted 9-3 for the death penalty.
“This was a case where the system failed in so many ways and on so many levels to get to the truth of what happened, ” said Martin McClain, Mr. Asay’s lawyer, who had worked to get the United States Supreme Court to review the case.
In 1988, Mr. Asay was sentenced to death for the murders of Robert Lee Booker, 34, a black man, and Robert McDowell, 26, later identified as white and Hispanic, who dressed as a woman.
Prosecutors argued that Mr. Asay was a white supremacist who killed the men because of their race. The shootings were hours apart in downtown Jacksonville. Since the conviction, the victims’ families said they had been waiting for justice.
“I could have been fishing with him. I could have been hunting, something, ” Frank Booker told the Jacksonville television station FirstCoastNews of his brother. “But due to circumstances I won’ t be able to do that with him.” He added: “Why would we let someone who has killed two people under first degree, under racism, still be here on this earth?”
For years, Mr. McDowell was identified as black. But recently the authorities acknowledged that Mr. McDowell was white, a critical mistake that dispelled the white supremacist label, Mr. McClain said.
“It just didn’ t happen the way the prosecutors say it did, and the mistake about the race changes the whole theory of the case. And if he were to go to trial right now, he would not get the death penalty under the new rules, ” he said.
Mr. Asay denied shooting Mr. Booker and offered his version of events for Mr. McDowell. In a jailhouse interview with the Jacksonville television station News4Jax, he said he shot Mr. McDowell — whom he knew as “Rene” and had encounters with — in an inebriated rage.
“I’ m very sorry for what happened. Rene was actually a friend of mine, I don’ t know what happened, ” he said. “I did not go out with intentions of having a problem with anybody. I just got drunk.”
He said his white supremacy tattoos were for his protection in a Texas prison, where he served time on an unrelated charge before the Florida murders.
“I was 19 years old, forced to survive in a hostile prison environment, and I got these tattoos in that environment so that I could blend in, so that I could be safe in that environment, ” he said in the interview.
The execution was carried out using three drugs, including etomidate, an anesthetic, which drew harsh criticism, including from its manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson.
“Florida’s use of etomidate in the execution tonight is extremely problematic, ” Maya Foa, director of Reprieve, an international rights organization, said in a statement. “The lethal injection is anything but a humane and gentle way to kill.”
The Florida Department of Corrections defended its use of the drug: “This is the Department’s most solemn duty and the foremost objective with the lethal injection procedure is a humane and dignified process.”
A new study shows that when a white person kills a black man in America, the killer often faces no legal consequences. In one in six of these killings, there is no criminal sanction, according to an examination of 400,000 homicides committed by civilians from 1980 to 2014.
