The History of Northeast Florida

Florida likes to execute people.  Since centralizing judicial execution in 1923, the State of Florida has executed more than 300 convicted criminals.  Prior to that, when executions were carried out by individual counties, documentation is scarce.  While Florida ranks sixth overall in state-sanctioned executions historically , it holds a solid fourth place since 1976, behind only Texas , Oklahoma , and Virginia , a period during which some states have slowed or outlawed executions altogether . Capital punishment worldwide has a long history that extends back thousands of years.  In Florida , there is evidence of Native American tribes executing members for various offenses.  As early as the 1500s, French explorers documented the beheading of Timucua sentinels for the crime of falling asleep at their posts.  It could have been worse for them, as boiling was another method of execution used by the natives. When the Spanish arrived in 1565, they brought...

On May 13, 1980, Judy Buenoano decided to take her three children (Michael – age 19, James – age 14 and Kimberly – age 13) on a fishing trip.  They drove to the East River, about a half-hour from their home in Gulf Breeze, Florida .  Kimberly was left on shore while the other three boarded a two-person canoe.  James was in the front, Judy was in the back, and Michael was seated between them in a folding lawn chair because he had just been fitted with braces on both his legs and his right arm. About two hours into the trip the canoe capsized throwing all three into the water.  Judy and James stayed afloat and were rescued by a passing boater.  Michael, having no function in his arms or legs and weighed down by his heavy metallic braces sank to the bottom of the river and died. This is the story of Judy Buenoano, dubbed “the Black Widow” by prosecutors and the press, who on March 30, 1998 became the first woman to die in Florida ’s electric chair. Judias (Ju...