Eric Branch Executed For Rape, Murder Of College Student In 1993

A 47-year-old Florida inmate who was convicted of raping and killing a college student in 1993 was executed with a lethal injection at Florida State Prison.

The man identified as Eric Scott Branch, originally from Indiana, raped and murdered 21-year-old University of West Florida student Susan Morris in 1993, just two month after he was released from a correction facility in November 1992 after his conviction for sexual battery of a 14-year-old girl in his hometown.

Reports state Branch carried out the crime on Morris in an attempt to steal her car. Her body was later discovered in a shallow grave near a nature trail.

According to a report in the Orlando Sentinel, Branch yelled “Murderers!” three times, thrashing on a gurney as he was being executed on Thursday.

After his execution, the governor’s office released a statement saying Branch was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. local time.

According to reports, just before his execution, Branch addressed corrections officers present in the room with him and told them his death penalty should be carried out by Republicans, Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“Let them come down here and do it. I’ve learned that you’re good people and this is not what you should be doing,” Branch told the officers.

Evidence presented in court during the case suggested Branch approached Morris after she left a night class on Jan. 11, 1993, so he could steal her red Toyota and return to his home in Florida. The Florida Supreme Court said the crime committed by Branch was particularly brutal.

“She had been beaten, stomped, sexually assaulted and strangled. She bore numerous bruises and lacerations, both eyes were swollen shut,” the justices wrote.

The death penalty in his case was jury recommended by a 10-2 vote under Florida’s old capital punishment system which was later ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016.

After U.S. Supreme Court overturned the death penalty, it was argued whether Branch deserved a new sentencing hearing because of that jury’s 10-2 vote in his 1994 trial, reports said. However, the Florida Supreme Court ruled the new system of sentencing did not apply to prisoners who were sentenced to death before 2002.

Before his death penalty on Thursday, Branch filed a last-minute appeal claiming Florida court’s decisions on the inmates who get new sentence hearing and the ones who don’t be unfair and arbitrary.

The documents submitted to the court said the new law prohibited close to 150 Florida death-row inmates from having their sentences reviewed.

On Thursday, this appeal along with one another filed by Branch’s attorney was rejected without comment.

Herman Lindsey, a former death-row inmate who was exonerated in 2009 protested against Branch’s execution outside the prison on Thursday saying he wants to see the practice abolished.

“There’s no way to guarantee we’re not killing innocent people,” he said.

Michelle Glady, Corrections Department spokeswoman confirmed Branch was visited by his daughter on Thursday morning but refused a meeting with a spiritual adviser. She added that as his last meal, Branch had a pork chop, T-bone steak, French fries and ice cream.