Florida executes James Phillip Barnes for 1988 hammer killing of nurse Patsy Miller

James Phillip Barnes was sentenced to death for killing nurse Patsy Miller in 1988. Photo / AP

Warning: Descriptions of sexual assault, violence and death.

A Florida man who recently dropped all legal appeals has been executed for the 1988 murder of a woman who was sexually assaulted, killed with a hammer and then set on fire in her own bed.

James Phillip Barnes, 61, was pronounced dead at 6.13pm on Thursday (10.13am today, NZT) after being given a lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Starke.

Lying on a gurney, Barnes appeared to already have his eyes shut when the curtain was opened for witnesses. He did not respond when prison officials asked if he had a final statement and he remained motionless except for breathing for about 10 minutes after the injection. A doctor then pronounced him dead.

Barnes was sentenced to death for the murder of nurse Patricia “Patsy” Miller. It was the fifth execution in Florida this year.

One of the victim’s siblings, Andrew Miller, witnessed the execution and said he came to remember his sister.

”I did not come here to watch someone die. I came here to honour our sister, Patricia Miller,” he said afterwards.

“No one should live in fear within the safety of their own home. No woman, no child, no animal should have that fear. We did.”

Barnes was serving a life sentence for the 1997 strangulation of his wife, 44-year-old Linda Barnes, when he wrote letters in 2005 to a state prosecutor claiming responsibility for killing Miller years earlier at her condominium in Melbourne, on Florida’s east coast.

He represented himself in court hearings at which he offered no defence, pleaded guilty to killing Miller and did not attempt to seek a life sentence rather than the death penalty.

Miller, who was 41 when Barnes killed her on April 20, 1988, had some previous unspecified negative interactions with him, according to a jailhouse interview he gave to German film director Werner Herzog. “There were several events that happened [with Miller]. I felt terribly humiliated, that’s all I can say,” Barnes said in the interview.

When he pleaded guilty, Barnes told the judge that, after breaking into Miller’s unit, “I raped her twice. I tried to strangle her to death. I hit her head with a hammer and killed her and I set her bed on fire.”

There was DNA evidence linking him to Miller’s killing. After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to death on December 13, 2007. He also pleaded guilty to sexual battery, arson and burglary with an assault and battery.

Barnes killed his wife in 1997 after she discovered he was dealing drugs. Her body was found stuffed in a cupboard after she was strangled, court records show. Barnes claimed to have killed at least two other people but was never charged in those cases.

He had been in and out of prison since his teens, including time served for theft, forgery, burglary and trafficking in stolen property.

In the Miller case, state lawyers appointed to represent Barnes filed initial appeals, including one that led to mental competency evaluations.

Two doctors found Barnes had symptoms of personality disorder with “borderline antisocial and sociopathic features”. However, they pronounced him competent to understand his legal situation and plead guilty, and his convictions and death sentence were upheld.

After Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant in June, a judge in Brevard County granted Barnes’ motion to drop all appeals involving mitigating evidence such as his mental condition and said “that he wanted to accept responsibility for his actions and to proceed to execution (his death) without any delay”, court records show.

Though unusual, condemned inmates sometimes choose not to pursue every legal avenue to avoid execution.

The Death Penalty Information Centre reports that about 150 such inmates have been put to death since the US Supreme Court reaffirmed the death penalty as constitutional in 1976.

The Florida Supreme Court accepted the Brevard County ruling, noting that no other motion seeking a stay of execution for Barnes had been filed in state or federal court.

In the Herzog interview, Barnes said he had converted to Islam in prison and wanted to clear his conscience about the Miller case during the holy month of Ramadan.

”They say I’m remorseless. I’m not. There are no more questions on this case. And I’m going to be executed,” Barnes said.

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