Khaberni -
The execution of a man convicted of killing his former manager in a small Florida store in 1988 is expected to be carried out.
Richard Barry Randolph will undergo lethal injection at the Florida state prison near the city of Stark.
Randolph was convicted of murder, armed robbery, sexual assault, and grand theft.
This will be the seventeenth execution carried out by Florida in the year 2025, setting a new state record for the number of executions in a single year.
According to court records, Randolph attempted to break into the safe of the "Handy-Way" store in Palatka, where he previously worked, in August 1988.
When manager Minnie Ruth McCollum noticed him, a fight ensued.
Randolph assaulted her, strangled her, and stabbed her before leaving the store with her car, according to the records.
Three women saw Randolph as he left the store and alerted the police after seeing the chaos through the store window.
When a deputy sheriff arrived, he found McCollum still alive; she was taken to the hospital in a coma and died six days later due to severe brain injuries, according to doctors.
Randolph was arrested shortly after the attack in a Jacksonville store while trying to borrow money and cash stolen lottery tickets from the store, according to the police.
Investigators said that he confessed to the attack and led them to blood-stained clothes he had disposed of.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court rejected an appeal filed by Randolph, where he argued that the lower court had misused its authority by denying him access to public records, and that his attorneys defended him without his consent.
He still has one final appeal pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
So far this year, 43 men have been executed by judicial ruling in the United States, with more than a dozen others scheduled for execution during the remainder of 2025 and the following year.
