TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — More than a dozen death penalty opponents gathered at the state capitol midday Friday, for a service of remembrance for serial killer Bobby Joe Long and those he killed.
In the first execution since Governor Ron DeSantis took office, Long was put to death by lethal injection Thursday evening at Florida State Prison.
Long was the 98th inmate executed since the death penalty was reinstated in Florida in 1976. He was sentenced to death in the May 1984 murder of Michelle Simms in Tampa.
At the capitol Friday, death penalty opponent Mary Anne Hoffman said executions do nothing but create more pain and suffering.
“People are looking for closure, and I understand that. The victim’s families are looking for closure, but there is also the person who was executed," said Hoffman. "That person’s family is now grieving.”
As of Friday, there are 340 people on death row in Florida, including 10 men who have been there for more than 40 years.
