STARK, FL– A man convicted of raping and beating his former manager to death in a Florida convenience store in 1988 is scheduled to be executed Thursday evening.
Richard Barry RandolphHe, 63, is scheduled to receive lethal injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Stark. Randolph was convicted of murder, armed robbery, sexual battery, and grand larceny and sentenced to death in 1989.
This will be the 17th execution carried out in Florida in 2025, extending the state’s record for total executions in a single year.
According to court records, Randolph tried to break into the safe at the Handy-Way convenience store in Palatka, where he previously worked, in August 1988. The manager, Minnie Ruth McCollum, spotted Randolph, and the two began struggling.
Randolph then beat, strangled, stabbed and raped McCollum before leaving the store and taking the woman’s car, records show.
Three women witnessed Randolph leaving the store and called the sheriff’s office after seeing through the window that the store was in disarray. A deputy responded and found McCollum still alive. She was taken to hospital while in a coma and died six days later from serious brain injuries, according to doctors.
Randolph was arrested shortly after the attack at a Jacksonville grocery store while trying to borrow money and stolen lottery tickets from the store, according to deputies. Investigators said Randolph confessed to the attack and directed them to the blood-stained clothes he had disposed of.
The Florida Supreme Court rejected Randolph’s appeals last week. He said that a lower court abused its discretion in denying him access to public records, and that his defense lawyers acted without his consent. A final appeal is still pending before the US Supreme Court.
A total of 43 men He died with it Implementation by court order So far this year in the United States, more than a dozen more people are scheduled to be executed during the remainder of 2025 and next year.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the previous highest annual total of executions in Florida was eight people in 2014. Florida executed more people than any other state this year, followed by Alabama, South Carolina and Texas with five each. Two more executions are scheduled to take place next month in Florida under death warrants signed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.
Mark Allen Geralds58, is scheduled for his 18th execution in Florida on December 9. He was convicted of stabbing a woman to death during a home robbery.
Frank Athen Walls58, is scheduled to carry out his 19th execution in Florida on December 18. He was convicted of fatally shooting a man and a woman during a home invasion robbery, and later admitted to three more murders.
Lethal injections in Florida are performed using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.
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