Florida on Thursday carried out its record 16th execution of the year, putting to death a former Marine convicted of the brutal 1979 killing of a 6-year-old girl who was abducted from her bedroom.
Bryan Frederick Jennings, 66, was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m. after receiving a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, according to the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis. Jennings was sentenced to death for the murder of Rebecca Kunash, who prosecutors said was raped and then drowned in a canal.
Asked for a final statement, Jennings responded loudly, “No.” Witnesses reported that his chest heaved and his arms twitched briefly as the drugs took effect before he became still.
His execution was one of three planned in the U.S. this week. In Oklahoma, the governor halted an execution just moments before it was set to take place earlier Thursday. In South Carolina, inmate Stephen Bryant is scheduled to face a firing squad on Friday for a deadly five-day crime spree committed decades earlier.
The 1979 Killing of Rebecca Kunash
According to court records, Jennings was 20 and on leave from the Marine Corps on May 11, 1979, when he removed the screen from a bedroom window while the girl’s parents were in another room. Evidence showed he abducted Rebecca, drove her to a canal, sexually assaulted her, and then slammed her to the ground with enough force to fracture her skull. She was then drowned in the canal, where her body was discovered later that day.
Jennings was arrested hours afterward on an unrelated traffic warrant. Investigators said he matched the description of a man seen near the home, his shoe prints matched those at the scene, his fingerprints were on the window frame, and his clothing and hair were wet.
He was convicted twice in Brevard County, but both convictions were overturned. A third trial in 1986 resulted in another death sentence, along with life sentences for kidnapping, sexual assault, and burglary.
Record Pace of Executions Under Gov. DeSantis
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed Jennings’ death warrant, has ordered more executions this year than any Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated nationally in 1976. The previous state record was eight executions in 2014.
Two more executions are already scheduled:
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Richard Barry Randolph on Nov. 20
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Mark Allen Geralds on Dec. 9
If both proceed, Florida will reach 18 executions in 2025, the highest in state history.
DeSantis has defended the pace, arguing that families have waited far too long for justice.
“Some of these crimes were committed in the ’80s,” he said recently. “Justice delayed is justice denied. If I honestly thought someone was innocent, I would not pull the trigger.”
Florida uses a three-drug lethal injection protocol consisting of a sedative, a paralytic, and a heart-stopping agent.
Jennings had filed numerous state and federal appeals, including a recent claim that he was left without legal representation for months before DeSantis signed his warrant — a violation, he argued, of his right to counsel.
Executions Nationwide
Jennings’ death marks the 42nd execution in the U.S. this year, with at least 16 more planned through the end of 2025, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
South Carolina’s Supreme Court recently cleared the way for Friday’s firing squad execution of Stephen Bryant, convicted of killing three people and leaving taunting messages in victims’ blood more than 20 years ago.
In Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt commuted the sentence of Tremane Wood to life in prison just minutes before his scheduled execution Thursday. Wood was convicted for his role in the 2002 killing of farmworker Ronnie Wipf during an attempted robbery. His lawyers argued that Wood’s brother — who died in prison in 2019 — was the one who fatally stabbed Wipf.
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