Eric branch biography

A Florida death row inmate shouted "murderers! Eric Scott Branch, 47, was put to death for the rape and killing of Susan Morris, a year-old student at the University of West Florida. Branch was sentenced to death in and spent 24 years on death row. Before the drug was administered on Thursday, he told correction officers that Governor Rick Scott should be the one to carry out the execution.

The Florida governor signed his death warrant in January, after Branch failed to convince judges to overturn his death sentence. Death row inmate wins appeal over racism. The Americans volunteering to watch executions.

Dr. Branch is a native of

US death sentences fall to year low. In his latest appeal, he claimed the jury's vote to sentence him to death during his trial did not reflect new laws that required jurors to reach a unanimous decision for inmates facing the death penalty. Florida's old capital punishment system was ruled unconstitutional in , but cases before were not made exempt under the new law, so Branch's appeal was deemed unsuccessful.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections said "there was no indication" that his pre-death screams and physical struggle were a result of the injection procedure , external , according to the Associated Press. Two other inmates were supposed to be put to death in the US on Thursday, but their lives were spared. The Texas governor commuted the death sentence of Thomas "Bart" Whitaker, 38 , an hour before his execution.

He was convicted over the murder of his mother and brother. Bart Whitaker right has been forgiven by his father Kent left for arranging a hit man to kill him. His father, Kent Whitaker, who was shot in the chest but survived, had pleaded with the state of Texas to save his son's life and change his sentence to life in prison.