Florida Executes Norman Mearle Grim

Norman Mearle Grim Jr., 65, died by lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke at 6:14 p.m., according to the state's Department of Corrections. He was convicted of sexual battery and first-degree murder and sentenced to death for the 1998 killing of his neighbor, Cynthia Campbell.

The crime is horrible, and his guilt is clear. It is not surprising that the jury sentenced him to death. He's white, so there does not appear to be a racism issue. 

Florida is leading the way in executions this year (15 so far, over five in Texas and Alabama), slowly chipping away at that long (and, as Breyer and Stevens said,  probably unconstitutional) backlog. 

Multiple articles do not provide much else to challenge this execution. Organizations against the death penalty flagged that he did not functionally have legal representation for years.  He ultimately waived final appeals. So no final SCOTUS order. 

An earlier brief noted:

The Appellant, Norman Grim, wants to die. That makes this an unusual capital case.  He was convicted of committing a first degree murder and sexual battery, but he refused to let his attorney present any mitigating evidence or argument at the penalty phase hearing.  

(Provides some possible mitigating evidence.) 

The execution of someone in their 60s, who has been in prison for the crime for approaching thirty years, in this case, comes off as semi-voluntary euthanasia. If that sort of thing, in a system that is a sort of arbitrary lottery, even if individual cases seem acceptable, is fine, perhaps the execution was fine.  

Four executions, as of now, are on tap for November. Florida has two of them.