Florida executes man convicted in 1987 airman and girlfriend killings during home invasion
Frank Athen Walls, 58, was put to death at Florida State Prison after decades of appeals and multiple confessions to other killings.
Florida on Thursday executed Frank Athen Walls, 58, for the July 1987 double murder during a home invasion that killed an Eglin Air Force Base airman and his girlfriend at a mobile home in the Florida Panhandle.
Walls was strapped to a gurney and given a three-drug lethal injection at the Florida State Prison near Starke at about 6 p.m. local time and was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m., corrections officials said. He was sentenced to death in 1988 after convictions on two counts of murder, two counts of kidnapping, burglary and theft. The Florida Supreme Court later overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial; Walls was convicted again and sentenced to death in 1992 after subsequent proceedings.
Investigators later linked Walls to a May 1987 rape and murder of Audrey Gygi through DNA evidence. He pleaded no contest in that case under a deal with prosecutors, sparing a further trial. He also admitted responsibility for the killings of Tommie Lou Whiddon in March 1985 and Cynthia Sue Condra in September 1986 as part of the same deal.
Walls offered a brief apology in a statement issued through the governor’s office, according to spokespersons. A Catholic priest stood at the foot of the gurney during the procedure. Officials said Walls woke around 5:10 a.m. local time and remained compliant throughout processing.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay of execution on Thursday afternoon, after the Florida Supreme Court had ruled against him in his appeals. The Department of Corrections notes that Florida’s lethal injections use a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart.
The execution marked Florida’s 19th this year, the most of any state, with the pace drawing national attention as debates over capital punishment continue. Florida has carried out more executions this year than Alabama, South Carolina and Texas combined, according to corrections data.
Across the United States, the death penalty remains in fl ux, with decades of legal wrangling shaping how states apply punishment. The Walls case, spanning trials, appeals and confessions, illustrates how the modern system can hinge on DNA evidence, procedural rulings and federal court decisions that affect whether a sentence is carried out.
As authorities processed Walls’s case, observers noted that the state’s approach to execution has evolved with court rulings since the 1976 reinstatement of the death penalty. The current year has seen a heightened focus on the death-penalty landscape in Florida and nationwide, with prosecutors and defense attorneys alike watching how courts handle similar matters in the future.
