Florida Executes Man in 2008 Murder Case

A Florida man convicted of abducting, raping and murdering a young mother in 2008 was executed by lethal injection Tuesday evening, bringing a close to a case that highlighted failures in the emergency response system.

Michael Lee King, 54, was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke following the administration of a three-drug cocktail consisting of a sedative, a paralytic and a heart-stopping agent, according to the Department of Corrections. The execution, the fourth in Florida this year, proceeded after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected King's final appeals without comment on Monday and the state Supreme Court denied earlier challenges last week. King's attorneys had argued that corrections officials mismanaged death penalty protocols and that he was denied due process by lacking access to certain records.

The crimes occurred on January 17, 2008, in North Port, when King spotted 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee outside her home with her two young sons, a toddler and an infant. Court records indicate he abducted her, leaving the children alone inside the residence. King then took Lee to his home, where he bound and sexually assaulted her, investigators...