Florida Executes 14th Prisoner of 2026 for 1976 Teen Murder

Harold Gene Lucas, 74, was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday evening at Florida State Prison, marking the state's 14th execution of 2026. Lucas was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. following a three-drug injection, more than 50 years after he murdered 16-year-old Jill Piper in Bonita Springs. The execution proceeded as scheduled, with the curtain of the death chamber opening at 6 p.m. Lucas was already secured to a gurney. When asked by the team warden if he had any final statement, he replied, "No." The drugs were administered immediately, and Lucas experienced about a minute of heavy breathing and gasping before becoming still. A medic later confirmed his death. Lucas was convicted for the fatal shooting of Piper and the wounding of her friends, Richard Byrd Jr. and Terri Rice, on August 14, 1976. Court records indicate Lucas, then 24, had known Piper for four years and had previously dated her. He had been arrested for trespassing at her home a week before the murder after she rejected his advances. On the day of the attack, Lucas and Piper had two separate confrontations, during which witnesses testified he threatened to kill her.