Mark Dean Schwab

Mark Dean Schwab
Born	December 16, 1968(1968-12-16) Dover, Ohio, U.S.
Died	July 1, 2008(2008-07-01) (aged 39) Starke, Florida, U.S.
Conviction(s)	First degree murder, kidnapping, sexual battery
Penalty	Death sentence
Status	Executed

Mark Dean Schwab (December 16, 1968 – July 1, 2008) was a prisoner in the state of Florida, where he was executed for the April 18, 1991, rape, murder of 11-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez, Jr., eldest son of a musician in the band "The Killer Dudes". He was convicted of the crime in 1992 and sentenced to death. In addition, he received two life sentences.

The crimes and arrest

He insisted he was raped at gunpoint by a friend's father as a child.

Schwab was released from prison on March 4, 1991, after serving three years of an eight-year sentence for the aggravated rape of a 13-year-old boy committed in 1987. The rest of his sentence was commuted and he was placed on 15 years of probation.

A month later, Cocoa resident Junny Rios-Martinez, Jr., went missing. Schwab had seen Junny's picture in the March 21, 1991 edition of Florida Today. He became friendly with the boy and his family, introducing himself as an associate of Malcom Denemark from that newspaper. After getting to know Junny, Schwab exploited his interest in surfing by saying he had left Florida Today for a job at a surfing magazine. On April 18, 1991, friends saw Junny get into a U-Haul truck.

On April 20, 1991, Schwab called his aunt in Ohio, claiming a man named "Donald" forced him to kidnap and rape Junny, under threat of killing Junny's mother, Vicki. The next day, police tapped a phone call with Schwab's aunt's permission, and determined Schwab's location. Schwab was arrested, and led police to Junny's dead body, found in Canaveral Groves, a rural area of Brevard County, Florida in a footlocker that was not completely shut and wrapped in rope.

Trial

On May 15, 1991, Schwab appeared in a state court in Brevard County, pleading not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping a child under age 13 and sexual assault of a child under age 13. Prosecutors sought the death penalty. Schwab waived his right to a jury trial, and was convicted on May 22, 1992. On July 1, 1992, he was sentenced to death for the murder, and given two life sentences for the kidnapping and sexual battery of a child under the age of 13. In addition, his probation was revoked on the previous rape conviction, and he was re-sentenced to an additional life sentence, giving him a total of three life sentences.

The case led to the passage of the Junny Rios-Martinez, Jr., Act of 1992, which prohibited those convicted of sexual battery from receiving early release in the state of Florida.

In prison

In 1997, he served a six-month "institutional adjustment" for a positive drug test. His final appeal, to the Supreme Court of the United States, was denied on January 16, 2007. Schwab's Florida Department of Corrections prisoner number was #111129. After being sentenced, he was housed at Florida State Prison in Starke, Florida.

Stays of execution

On December 15, 2006, Governor Jeb Bush suspended all pending executions until further notice after the execution of Ángel Nieves Díaz had taken much longer than usual. This ban was lifted when the new Governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, signed Schwab's death warrant on July 18, 2007. Schwab was then transferred to Florida State Prison. He was scheduled for execution by means of lethal injection on November 15, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. EST. However, federal judge Anne C. Conway granted a stay of execution on November 14. On November 15, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the execution can proceed, but the United States Supreme Court blocked the execution later that same day pending appeals of two Kentucky inmates challenging the combination of the three drugs used for lethal injection, which is the same combination as is used in Florida.

The Supreme Court upheld Kentucky's death penalty on April 16, 2008, by a vote of 7-2. Crist signed a new death warrant for Schwab the next day, without a date for execution. On May 19, the Supreme Court specifically denied Schwab's appeal, permitting Crist to reschedule his execution. Schwab made one final appeal to the Florida Supreme Court on June 25, but was denied because the claims being made were the same ones that had already been declined by the Supreme Court.

Death

Schwab was executed by lethal injection on July 1, 2008 and pronounced dead at 6:15 pm. His last meal consisted of fried eggs, bacon, sausage links, hash browns, buttered toast and a quart of chocolate milk. He declined the offer to make a last statement.

See also

• Capital punishment in Florida

External links

• Profile of the Mark Dean Schwab case at Florida's Capital Crimes Database (Word document)
• Mark D. Schwab vs. State of Florida - Case no. 80,289

Preceded by Robert Yarbrough

People executed in US

Succeeded by Carlton Turner