TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Supreme Court has denied a stay of execution for a man convicted of murdering his wife and step-daughter in their Florida Panhandle home.
The court released its decision Monday, meaning 43-year-old Chadwick Banks remains scheduled to die Nov. 13.
Authorities say Banks' wife, Cassandra, was sleeping in the early morning hours of Sept. 24, 1992, when Banks shot her in the head. He then went to the room of his 10-year-old step-daughter, Melody Cooper, and raped her. Banks then forced the girl to kneel facing her bed and fatally shot her in the head.
Banks did not contest his guilt of the murders. A Gadsden County jury convicted him of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of sexual battery on a child. The panel then recommended a death sentence by a 9-3 vote.
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