USA - Florida. Manuel Valle, 61, hispanic, has been executed after 33 years on death row

Manuel Valle, 61, hispanic, has been executed at the Florida State Prison. Valle is the 1st Florida inmate executed using Pentobarbital. Valle fatally shot Coral Gables officer Louis Pena on April 2, 1978. Valle was initially sentenced to die in 1981, but the state Supreme Court ordered a new trial that year. He was again convicted and sentenced to die, but the U.S. Supreme Court vacated that death sentence in 1986. Another jury recommended the death sentence anew in 1988. A 4 p.m. EDT execution was scheduled, but the office of Gov. Rick Scott said when that time elapsed that the execution was being delayed because of an 11th-hour attempt to stop it before the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court announced Wednesday evening it had declined to intervening, allowing the execution to go forward. Valle becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Florida and the 70th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1979. Valle becomes the 37th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1271st overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (see also 25/07/2011, 27/08/2011, 23/08/2011, 02/09/2011, 07/09/2011, 13/09/2011).