Man who raped, killed Fla. boy to be executed
STARKE, Fla. (AP) — Last-minute appeals have temporarily delayed the planned Florida execution of a man sentenced to die for the rape and murder of a 9-year-old boy 18 years ago.
Forty-six-year-old Juan Carlos Chavez was scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday at Florida State Prison in Starke. But a 6 p.m. execution time passed while officials awaited a final ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. Chavez has raised legal challenges to Florida's method of lethal injection, among other claims.
Chavez abducted Jimmy Ryce at gunpoint after he got off a school bus on Sept. 11, 1995, in Miami-Dade County. Trial testimony showed Chavez raped the boy and shot him.
Ryce's death prompted changes in the U.S. legal system regarding civil commitment of dangerous child predators.
