Florida Executes Inmate for 2004 Panhandle Murder

Jesse Guardado, 64, was executed by lethal injection Thursday evening at Florida State Prison for the 2004 murder of a Panhandle woman. According to the Department of Corrections, Guardado was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m.

Guardado had been convicted in connection with the death of a woman who had assisted him after his release from jail. The case stems from events in 2004, more than two decades before the execution carried out this week.

The execution marks another completion of Florida's capital punishment cases, which have been carried out at a higher pace in recent years under the state's current administration.