Tallahassee, Fla., Aug 17, 2009 / 18:25 pm
A judge has denied a request to delay the execution of a Florida death row inmate convicted of rape and murder. The convict’s attorney claims his accomplice confessed to the murder instead, while the state’s Catholic bishops have appealed to the governor for a stay of execution.
John Richard Marek was convicted in the 1983 killing of Adela Marie Simmons. Despite the concerns of a friend, she accepted a ride from Marek and his co-defendant Raymond Wigley after her car had broken down. Her body was found raped and strangled near a lifeguard stand on a beach the next afternoon.
Wigley was sentenced to life in prison and was killed there in 2000. Marek was sentenced to death in 1984 at the age of 22.
Marek’s attorney Martin J. McClain asked Circuit Judge Jeffrey Levenson to hear the testimony of a prison inmate who claims Wigley once confessed to the killing. Six other inmates had testified last week that Wigley had confessed to the murder. The Palm Beach Post reports that Judge Levenson dismissed their claims and was upheld by the Florida Supreme Court.