Screaming Killer Executed

STARKE, Fla. —  Kicking, struggling and screaming as he was strapped into the electric chair, a minister’s son convicted of murdering a man and raping his wife as his victim lay dying was executed today in Florida’s electric chair. The execution took place just minutes after the Supreme Court refused to spare his life.

Daniel Morris Thomas, 37, leader of central Florida’s notorious “Ski Mask Gang” accused of two murders and five rapes, was pronounced dead at 12:19 p.m., just 24 minutes after the high court denied his bid for a stay. He was convicted of the shooting death of Charles Anderson on New Year’s Day, 1976, during a robbery at Anderson’s rural Polk County home. As Anderson lay dying of five gunshot wounds, Thomas raped his wife.