Florida Executes Marshall Lee Gore for the 1988 Murder of Robyn Novick After Four Postponements in One Year
Courts twice halted the execution over insanity claims. Gore, who was also condemned for killing Susan Roark, had no last words.
Published
Marshall Lee Gore was sentenced to death for murdering two women in Florida in 1988, and his execution was postponed four times in 2013. On October 1, 2013, the state executed him.
Gore was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Starke after a lethal injection, following the U.S. Supreme Court's denial of his last appeals late that afternoon. He had no last words. Courts had twice put the execution on hold over insanity claims, and it was delayed once because it conflicted with a political fundraiser for Attorney General Pam Bondi, who later apologized. Gore claimed delusions involving a conspiracy theory and satanic worshippers, but appeals judges agreed with state-appointed experts that his claimed insanity was "designed to mislead the panel and avoid responsibility for his past actions."
Robyn Novick, 30, was last seen on March 11, 1988, leaving the parking lot of the Redlands Tavern, and her body was found in a rural area of Dade County on March 16; early on March 12, Gore had been seen driving her car, according to the Florida Supreme Court. Gore, a former escort service owner, attacked a third woman on March 14, and she survived. FBI agents arrested him in Paducah, Kentucky, on March 17, 1988. He was also sentenced to death for murdering Susan Roark in Columbia County. His first conviction in Novick's death was reversed, and after a 1999 retrial in which he represented himself at the penalty phase, he was again sentenced to death.
When police showed him photos of Robyn Novick, Gore said that if he had killed her he deserved the death penalty, yet he spent 23 years on death row fighting his sentence.
Sources
- Gore v. State, No. SC05-1848, Supreme Court of Florida (via Justia)
- Serial killer/rapist Gore scheduled for execution Tuesday, CBS Miami (Associated Press)
- Florida executes convicted killer of exotic dancer, WFTV (Associated Press)