STARK, FL– A man convicted of stabbing a woman to death during a home invasion robbery more than 30 years ago is scheduled to be executed Tuesday evening in Florida.
Mark Allen Geralds, 58, is scheduled to receive lethal injection starting at 6 p.m. at the Florida State Prison near Stark. Geralds was convicted of murder, armed robbery, burglary, and carjacking and was sentenced to death in 1990. The Florida Supreme Court later overturned the conviction but affirmed the conviction, and Geralds was sentenced to death in 1992.
This will be the 18th execution carried out in Florida in 2025, extending the state’s record for total executions in a single year.
According to court records, Tresa Pettibone’s 8-year-old son found his mother beaten and stabbed to death on the kitchen floor of their Panama City home in February 1989. Geralds was a carpenter who had previously done home remodeling work.
Geralds met Pettibone and her children at a mall about a week before the murder, and Pettibone stated that her husband was away on business. Later, Geralds approached Pettibone’s son in the video lounge and asked when the boy’s father would return and when he and his sister left and returned from school each day, according to court records.
Investigators found that Geralds had pawned jewelry with traces of Pettibone’s blood on it, and plastic ties used to bind Pettibone that matched ties found in Geralds’ car.
After signing his death warrant last month and setting his execution date, Geralds told the judge he did not wish to pursue any further appeals. The judge signed this decision.
A total of 44 men He died with it Implementation by court order So far this year in the United States, only a few executions are scheduled for the rest of the 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 has executed more people this year than any other state. Another execution is scheduled for next week in the state under death orders signed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.
The 19th execution in Florida this year is scheduled for December 18 of Frank Athen Walls, 58. He was convicted of fatally shooting a man and a woman during a home robbery, and later confessed 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.