Florida schedules execution of Harold Gene Lucas for 1976 murder

A Florida man who murdered a 16-year-old girl after she rebuffed his romantic interests and injured two of her companions is scheduled for execution on Tuesday, marking the first of three lethal injections set to occur in the state this month.

At 6 p.m., 74-year-old Harold Gene Lucas will be administered a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison, located near Starke. His execution will be the 14th carried out in Florida this year, with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis having signed death warrants for an additional two executions planned for later in September.

Lucas declined to submit appeals to either the Florida Supreme Court or the U.S. Supreme Court. Following the issuance of his death warrant, he informed a circuit judge of his decision to forgo all post-conviction proceedings, a request the judge formally approved a few days later.

"I've been on death row for 50 years, and I have no desire to carry this any further," Lucas told the judge, according to court transcripts. "The sooner it's over, the better I'll enjoy it. I am tired."

After being convicted of first-degree murder along with two counts of attempted first-degree murder for the fatal 1976 shooting of Jill Piper and the wounding of her friends, Richard Byrd Jr. and Terri Rice, Lucas was handed a capital sentence—and subsequently resentenced to death four additional times.

Court records indicate that Lucas was 24 years old in August 1976 when he was taken into custody for trespassing at Piper’s residence in Bonita Springs, south of Fort Myers.

Authorities said Lucas had known the teenager for four years and had worked for her family. The two had previously dated, and Lucas had told a friend he intended to marry her.

Roughly one week after his arrest, Lucas and Piper were involved in two separate disputes on the same day, spaced a few hours apart, according to investigators. Witnesses offered testimony stating that Lucas had threatened Piper's life.

Seeking protection, Piper asked Byrd and Rice to stay at her home that evening, officials said. Lucas later arrived armed with a rifle, shooting Piper repeatedly while she pleaded for her life, before shooting and injuring her two friends. Investigators arrested Lucas the following day.

Legal records show Lucas received his first death sentence in 1977 following a unanimous 12-0 jury recommendation.

However, the Florida Supreme Court subsequently determined that the trial judge erred by factoring the heinous nature of the attempted murders into the sentencing decision for the murder. The same trial judge issued a second death sentence to Lucas in 1980.

Before a third sentencing hearing could be ordered, the original trial judge died, leading to the appointment of a new judge. That judge handed Lucas a third death sentence in 1985, but the Florida Supreme Court subsequently ordered a new jury process while keeping the conviction intact.

The new jury recommended execution by an 11-1 vote, resulting in a fourth death sentence for Lucas in 1987. Finding the sentencing order unclear, the Florida Supreme Court intervened once more, prompting the second judge to impose a fifth and final death sentence in 1990.

Subsequent legal appeals proved unsuccessful.

Across the U.S. in 2025, 47 individuals were executed. Florida accounted for the highest share with 19 lethal injections—a state record since capital punishment was restored in 1976. This year, Florida has executed more than half of the 23 total prisoners put to death nationwide.

In July, Florida became the first state in nearly ten years to execute two inmates on the same day.

Two additional executions are set to take place in Florida later this month. Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., 72, is scheduled for execution on Sept. 10, and Curtis Wilkie Beasley, 77, is slated to be executed on Sept. 29.

Conahan was convicted of the abduction and strangulation of a man he had paid to pose for nude photographs, with law enforcement suspecting him of involvement in similar killings across southwest Florida during the 1990s.

Beasley was convicted for the 1995 fatal hammer beating of a woman, as well as robbing her and stealing her vehicle.

According to the Department of Corrections, all capital punishment in Florida is administered through a three-drug lethal injection sequence consisting of a sedative, a paralytic, and a heart-stopping agent.