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September 6, 2002
TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Jeb Bush on Thursday signed orders to execute two death row inmates next month: Aileen Wuornos, a hitchhiking prostitute convicted of killing six middle-aged men along Florida highways in 1989 and 1990; and Rigoberto Sanchez Velasco, condemned for the 1986 murder of an 11-year-old Hialeah girl.
Wuornos' execution by lethal injection was set for Oct. 9, Sanchez's for Oct. 2.
Florida's death penalty has been in limbo this year because of legal challenges to the roles of the judge and jury in sentencing. But Bush spokeswoman Katie Muniz said both inmates confessed more than 10 years ago and have dropped their appeals and volunteered for execution.
"It seems to us that there could be no conceivable reason why the courts would not allow these executions to go forward," Muniz said.
Wuornos, 46, was convicted of fatally shooting six men she picked up as a hitchhiker along highways in Volusia, Marion, Citrus, Pasco and Dixie counties. Her story has been portrayed in two movies, three books and an opera.