Darryl Barwick's Last Words Before Florida Execution

Darryl Barwick, who was convicted of fatally stabbing a woman 37 times in 1986, died by lethal injection in Florida on Wednesday. He was 56 years old.

According to a report from the Pensacola News Journal, Barwick was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m. at the Florida State Prison in Raiford. His last meal, which was served at 9:15 a.m., was centered around Southern comfort food, including fried chicken, mac and cheese, black-eyed peas, rice and corn bread.

No members of Barwick's family were in attendance at his execution, reported the Journal, but he did speak to family members by phone. The inmate also spent time with a spiritual adviser in the morning.

According to court documents, Barwick was found guilty of first-degree murder on November 24, 1986, for the death of 24-year-old Rebecca Wendt earlier that year. Investigators said that Barwick followed Wendt into her apartment in Panama City after she was sunbathing outside. Wendt was later found by her sister, who also lived at the apartment, wrapped in a comforter and lying on the bathroom floor with numerous stab wounds.

Darryl Barwick, 56, stabbed a woman 37 times in her Florida apartment when he was 19. Darryl Barwick, 56, stabbed a woman 37 times in her Florida apartment when he was 19. Courtesy of Florida Department of Corrections

Medical examiners found no evidence of sexual assault with the victim, but crime lab investigators detected a semen stain on the comforter. Lab tests of Barwick's blood found that he was within 2 percent of the population who could have left the stain, read the documents.

Barwick, who was only 19 at the time, originally denied being involved in Wendt's killing, but later confessed to investigators, saying that he had intended to steal from her apartment but "lost control" when she resisted, read court documents.

A Florida court first sentenced Barwick to death in January 1987. After appealing to the Florida Supreme Court, he was granted a second trial due to constitutional error in the original trial's jury selection. In July 1992, Barwick was again found guilty of murder, and a 12-person jury unanimously recommended the death penalty during his sentencing.

Both state and federal courts denied several appeals filed by Barwick's legal team throughout his 36 years on death row, including a last-second stay that was rejected by the Florida Supreme Court Wednesday morning.

In his final statements, Barwick offered an apology to Wendt's loved ones, and said that the state of Florida needed to start showing "compassion and kindness" for young inmates in state prison.

"It's time to apologize to the victim's family, to my family," Barwick said, according to the Journal's report. "I can't explain why I did what I did."

"And another thing I would like to say, the state of Florida needs to show some kind of compassion and kindness for each other with so many kids in prison, there are 14- and 15-year-olds serving life sentences."

Barwick's execution marks Florida's third in the last three months. Donald Dillbeck was executed February 23, and Louis Bernard Gaskin died by lethal injection April 12. According to the Florida Department of Corrections, Dillbeck was the 100th Florida prisoner executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1975.

Wednesday also marks the fifth death warrant signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis since taking office in 2019.

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