The Jamaican man convicted for placing a pipe bomb in a gift-wrapped microwave oven in a plot to kill two potential murder witnesses was executed yesterday for the 1992 death of a Florida highway trooper.
According to the Associated Press, 48-eight-year-old Paul Augustus Howell, was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m. following a lethal injection at the Florida State Prison in Stark.
Howell was condemned for the killing of Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Jimmy Fulford on February 1, 1992, when the package exploded during a traffic stop.
Court documents stated that Howell built the bomb in his Fort Lauderdale home and placed it in the microwave oven.
He then paid another man, Lester Watson, US$200 to deliver the box across-state to a woman in Marianna who, along with a friend could link Howell to a drug-related murder.
However, Fulford pulled Watson over for speeding about an hour from his Florida Panhandle destination interrupting the delivery of the bomb.
Watson was arrested after giving the trooper a false name and birth date.
Watson also gave Fulford permission to search the car rented in Howell’s name.
Before Fulford opened the package, a police dispatcher called Howell to let him know what was going on.
Instead of mentioning the bomb, Howell said he had given Watson permission to drive the car, but didn’t think Watson was leaving the Fort Lauderdale area.
When the 35-year-old trooper opened the package and looked to see what was in the microwave oven, a powerful explosion took his life.
Fulford’s death prompted a state and federal investigation that broke apart a drug ring and led to the indictment of 28 people.
Howell, was sentenced to life on federal drug charges.
He was then convicted on state charges of murder and making, possessing, placing and discharging a destructive and handed the death sentence.
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