Global Courant
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed a death warrant for a man who confessed to the 1988 rape and murder of a nurse in Brevard County.
With DeSantis’ signature, the execution of 61-year-old James Phillip Barnes is scheduled for August 3, FOX 13 reported. Barnes was sentenced to death in 2006 after pleading guilty to the violent murder of 41-year-old Patricia “Patsy” Miller.
In a letter to an assistant state attorney in 2005, Barnes admitted to breaking into Miller’s condominium in Melbourne and raping her twice before killing her and setting her body on fire. He was convicted of first degree murder, burglary, two counts of sexual battery with a weapon and arson.
Miller’s death went unsolved for a decade before DNA evidence in 1998 was linked to Barnes, who was already serving a life sentence for the 1997 murder of his wife. He was previously questioned in Miller’s case but refused to speak to law enforcement, it revealed court documents.
GOV OF FLORIDA. DESANTIS SIGNS LEGISLATION ALLOWING JURIES TO SEND A PRISON TO DEATH WITHOUT UNDER CONSTITUTION
James Phillip Barnes will be executed on August 3 for the violent murder of 41-year-old Patricia “Patsy” Miller. (Florida Department of Corrections)
Barnes’ letter of confession to the lawyer came after he converted to Islam. According to Florida Today, he told prosecutors he wanted to clear his conscience while fasting during Ramadan.
Barnes, who did not know Miller, said he entered her residence through a bedroom window on April 20, 1988, and confronted her with a knife, according to court documents. He raped Miller twice, tried to strangle her with the belt of her bathrobe, then hit her on the head with a hammer.
In an attempt to cover up the crime, Barnes admitted to using shoelaces to tie Miller to the bed before setting it on fire. A coroner determined she died of blunt force trauma to the head, FOX 13 reported.
He was reportedly at her house for between 45 and 60 minutes.
DESANTIS EXPANDS DEATH PENALTY LAW FOR CONVINCED CHILD RAPISTS, VIOLING SUPREME COURT PRECEDENT
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for a man who confessed to the 1988 rape and murder of a nurse in Brevard County. (CHENY ORR/AFP via Getty Images)
“She knew he would kill her as long as she was conscious, and she was unable to resist because she was bound and overpowered by the defendant,” wrote then-Brevard County Circuit Judge Lisa Davidson in her 37-page decision to sentence Barnes to death. “Patricia Miller endured a terrifying ordeal over a period of time that culminated in a gruesome death at the hands of the defendant.”
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Barnes “stated unequivocally that he went there to kill Ms. Miller and it was not an afterthought,” the judge wrote, adding that he was “calmly and calmly working towards his goal” of killing her in a “brutal and ruthless manner” .
The August execution made Barnes the fifth inmate to die by lethal injection in Florida this year.
