JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After the Florida Supreme Court rejected arguments aimed at sparing the life of a man dubbed the “ninja killer” after a 1989 double slaying in Flagler County, his attorney appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Louis Gaskin is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Florida State Prison unless the High Court halts his execution.
Gaskin’s attorney argued to the U.S. Supreme Court that jurors did not receive evidence of Gaskin’s mental illness before recommending the death penalty.
In the new appeal, Gaskin’s attorney writes:
Because the trial judge and the recommending jury were denied the mitigation (evidence) that was extant in Mr. Gaskin’s case, the recommending jury and the trial court never focused on the unique circumstances of Mr. Gaskin.
His deprivation, mental illness, and trauma he suffered was never heard, thus failing to meet the minimum constitutional requirements.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Gaskin’s death warrant last month.
If the Supreme Court rejects Gaskin’s appeal, his death will mark the second execution in Florida this year after a long pause dating back to 2019.
Gaskin, now 56, has filed numerous appeals over the years but by 2020 both the Florida Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court had cleared the way for his death warrant to be signed, Attorney General Ashley Moody said in court documents.
Gaskin was convicted of first-degree murder for killing Robert Sturmfels, 56, and Georgette Sturmfels, 55, on Dec. 20, 1989, in their Flagler County home. He was also convicted of armed robbery, burglary and the attempted murder of another couple that same night nearby.
He was dubbed the “ninja killer” because he wore all-black ninja clothing during the crimes. Gaskin shot his victims with a .22-caliber rifle, investigators say.
A summary of the case included in the Florida Supreme Court opinion said Gaskin parked his car in a wooded area and shot Robert Sturmfels twice through a window of the home. He shot Georgette Sturmfels, who was trying to leave the room, and then shot Robert Sturmfels again, according to the summary. He shot Georgette Sturmfels again after seeing her through a door and then entered the home and shot both of them in the head, the filing said.
Property that he stole from the Sturmfels’ home — a clock, two lamps and a videocassette recorder — was found at his residence. He planned to give them to his girlfriend as Christmas gifts, investigators said. He had also taken cash and jewelry.
He then went to the home of Joseph and Mary Rector, according to the summary. After Joseph Rector got out of bed to investigate a noise, he was shot, but the Rectors were able to get to a car and drive to a hospital.
Local media reported at the time that Gaskin quickly confessed to the crimes and told a psychologist before his trial that he knew what he was doing.
“The guilt was always there,” Gaskin told him. “The devil had more of a hold than God did. I knew that I was wrong. I wasn’t insane.”
Jurors voted 8-4 in 1990 to recommend the death sentence, which the judge accepted. Florida law now requires a unanimous jury vote for capital punishment, although that could be changed this year by the state Legislature.
Gaskin’s execution would be only the fourth under DeSantis, who has also signed a death warrant for Darryl Barwick. Barwick, who was convicted of murdering a Bay County woman in 1986, is scheduled to be executed May 3.