STARKE, Fla. (PulseWire) — Richard Barry Randolph, convicted of raping and fatally beating his former manager at a Florida convenience store in 1988, is scheduled for execution Thursday evening. Randolph, 63, will receive a lethal injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. He has been sentenced to death for murder, armed robbery, sexual battery, and grand theft since 1989.
This execution marks Florida's 17th death sentence carried out in 2025, breaking the state record for total executions in a single year. Court records indicate that Randolph tried to break into the safe at the Handy-Way convenience store in Palatka, where he previously worked. When confronted by the manager, Minnie Ruth McCollum, a struggle ensued resulting in a brutal attack.
Randolph brutally assaulted McCollum, beating, strangling, stabbing, and ultimately raping her before fleeing the store with her car. Witnesses saw him leave and alerted authorities, who found McCollum alive but in a coma; she succumbed to her injuries six days later.
Randolph was arrested shortly thereafter at a Jacksonville grocery store while trying to cash in stolen lottery tickets. In his confession, he directed investigators to the bloody clothes he had discarded.
The Florida Supreme Court denied Randolph’s appeals last week, concluding that there was no wrongdoing in previous court decisions and his defense attorneys acted appropriately. The U.S. Supreme Court echoed this conclusion on Thursday, rejecting his final appeal.
With over 43 inmates executed nationwide this year, Florida has topped the list for executions. Two more are scheduled in December, continuing a trend led by the state this year. Florida's execution process uses a sedative, a paralytic agent, and a drug to stop the heart.
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