Harold Gene Lucas, 74, was executed by lethal injection Tuesday evening at Florida State Prison near Starke, becoming the 14th prisoner put to death in Florida this year. Lucas was convicted of the 1976 fatal shooting of 16-year-old Jill Piper, who had rejected his romantic advances, and the wounding of her friends Richard Byrd Jr and Terri Rice.
Execution details and final hours
The three-drug injection began at 6 p.m. Lucas chose not to file any last-ditch court appeals, telling a judge after his death warrant was issued that he wanted to waive all post-conviction proceedings. According to court transcripts, Lucas told the judge, “I’ve been on death row for 50 years, and I have no desire to carry this any further. The sooner it’s over, the better I’ll enjoy it. I am tired.”
On Tuesday, Lucas awoke at 5:45 a.m. and was later visited by his sister and given a meal of steak and fries, according to Department of Corrections spokesman Jordan Kirkland. Kirkland added at an afternoon news briefing that Lucas did not meet with a spiritual adviser.
Crime and sentencing history
According to court records, Lucas was 24 in August 1976 when he was arrested for trespassing at Piper’s Bonita Springs home, south of Fort Myers. Lucas had known the teen for four years and worked for her family. Lucas and Piper had previously dated, and Lucas told a friend he planned to marry Piper. About a week after the arrest, Lucas and Piper had two separate confrontations on the same day, several hours apart, investigators said. Witnesses testified Lucas threatened to kill Piper.
Piper asked Byrd and Rice to spend that night at her home for protection. Lucas eventually showed up with a rifle, shot Piper multiple times while she begged for her life, and then shot and wounded her friends, investigators said. Lucas was arrested the next day.
Lucas was initially sentenced to death in 1977 with a 12-0 jury recommendation, court records show. The Florida Supreme Court later ruled the trial judge was wrong to consider the heinousness of the attempted murders while deciding the sentence. The same trial judge resentenced Lucas to death in 1980. After a third sentencing was ordered, the original judge had died, and a new judge sentenced Lucas to death in 1985. The Florida Supreme Court then ruled a new jury should hear the case, though the conviction stood. The new jury recommended death by 11-1, and Lucas was sentenced to death for a fourth time in 1987. After the Florida Supreme Court ruled that order wasn’t clear, Lucas was sentenced to death for a final time in 1990. No appeals after that were successful.
State and national execution trends
A total of 47 people were executed in the US in 2025, with Florida leading the way with 19 lethal injections, a record in the state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Florida has carried out more than half of the 23 total executions in the US this year. In July, Florida executed two prisoners in one day, the first state in nearly a decade to do so.
Governor Ron DeSantis has already signed death warrants for two more execution dates this month. Daniel Owen Conahan Jr, 72, is scheduled for 10 September, and Curtis Wilkie Beasley, 77, on 29 September. Conahan was convicted of kidnapping and strangling a man he had paid to pose for nude photos, and authorities suspect him of similar homicides committed in the 1990s in south-west Florida. Beasley was convicted of beating a woman to death with a hammer, robbing her and stealing her car in 1995.
All Florida executions are carried out via lethal injection of a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the department of corrections.
