Attorneys for 'ninja killer' ask U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution Wednesday

Frank Fernandez, The Daytona Beach News-Journal
·2 min read
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Louis Gaskin
Louis Gaskin

Attorneys for Louis Gaskin, who is known as the “ninja killer,” have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution which is planned for 6 p.m. Wednesday.

The application for a stay is addressed to Associate Justice Clarence Thomas who is the circuit justice for the 11th circuit, which includes Florida.

Gaskin shot and killed Robert and Georgette Sturmfels, 56 and 55 years old respectively, on Dec. 20, 1989, and then burglarized their home in the R-section of Palm Coast. He was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder in their killings and sentenced to death. Gov. Ron DeSantis last month signed a death warrant for the 56-year-old Gaskin.

On the night of the murders, Gaskin targeted another home in Palm Coast, where he shot Joe Rector. Gaskin also confessed to killing a man several years earlier.

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Gaskin should not be executed because “his case is one of the most aggravated and least mitigated,” according to the application for stay from Eric C. Pinkard, an attorney for the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel in Temple Terrace.

Pinkard asked the Supreme Court to stay the execution so that it can review "significant questions of constitutional law."

The application also states that the jury recommended death by a vote of 8 to 4. The application states that there is “an undisputable national consensus” that if a death sentence is to be constitutional, it should be unanimous.

The application also states that the jury was never presented “with profound compelling mitigating evidence" and still four jurors recommended life.

Gaskin’s lawyer writes that the state courts have foreclosed adequate review of the case.

“However, given the final nature of the death penalty, there should be no point at which these considerations are foreclosed ‘Execution is the most irremediable and unfathomable of penalties ... death is different,’” the application states.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Louis Gaskin's attorneys ask U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution