R.I.P. David Alan Gore

Roman Colosseum lit to protest an execution

On April 12, 2012, Florida executed David Alan Gore for the rape-murder of 17-year-old Lynn Elliott in 1983. Gore confessed to committing murders of three other girls and two women, for which he received life sentences.

The courts refused to grant a stay in order to consider claims of ineffective assistance of Gore's trial attorney and his post-conviction counsel.  The trial attorney representing Gore in his 1992 resentencing hearing (Gore's original death sentence was reversed), who has since been disbarred, failed to present evidence of Gore's alcohol, drug abuse and mental health problems or inform the jury of the unlikelihood that Gore would ever be released if he received a life sentence.

Gore's post-conviction counsel attempted to prove that trial counsel, Robert Udell, provided incompetent representation but when Udell claimed he wasn't lead counsel and it was another lawyer named Jerome Nickerson who was at fault, appellate counsel unreasonably failed to locate Nickerson. 

In a final statement, Gore apologized to Elliot's parents, saying he was "truly sorry for my part in the death of your daughter."  He said he had become a different person after becoming a Christian, and prayed for Mr. and Mrs. Elliot that they could find peace, concluding:  "I just want to say I have had a tremendous amount of remorse and pray you and your family can forgive me. God bless all of ya’ll."

This is the thirteenth execution in the United States in 2012, the second in Florida.