Florida sets execution date for man who killed neighbor in 1998

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FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has set an execution date for a 65-year-old man who sexually battered and killed his next-door neighbor in 1998.

Norman Mearle Grim Jr. was convicted in the death of Cynthia Campbell. She was reported missing, and her body was later found off the Pensacola Bay Bridge by a fisherman.

Grim is set to die by lethal injection on Oct. 28.

Prosecutors said Campbell suffered multiple blunt-force injuries to her face and head that were consistent with being struck by a hammer, as well has 11 stab wounds in the chest. An autopsy revealed seven of the stab wounds penetrated her heart.

Physical evidence including DNA tied Grim to her death, and he was convicted of sexual battery and first-degree murder in December 2000.

Florida leads the nation in the number of executions in 2025. On Sept. 17, the state carried out its 12th execution of the year when David Pittman died by lethal injection.

Two other Florida executions are also scheduled for this fall. Victor Tony Jones is set to die on Sept. 30 for the 1990 killings of two people during a robbery, and Samuel Lee Smithers is scheduled to be executed on Oct. 14 for the murders of two women in 1996.

The highest previous annual total of recent Florida executions is eight in 2014, since the death penalty was restored in 1976 by the U.S. Supreme Court. A total of 33 people have been executed in the U.S. this year, exceeding the 25 executions carried out last year. The most recent year with more executions for the entire U.S. was 2014, when 35 people were put to death.

Alabama and Texas each carried out executions on Sept. 25.

Appeals will likely be filed in the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.