Florida executed Harold Gene Lucas, 74, on Tuesday, marking the state's 14th execution this year. Lucas was convicted of fatally shooting a 16-year-old girl and wounding two of her friends after she rejected his romantic advances.

Lucas was set to receive a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He had chosen not to pursue any appeals with the Florida Supreme Court or the U.S. Supreme Court, telling a circuit judge that he was tired after 50 years on death row and wished to waive post-conviction proceedings. The judge granted his request.

Lucas was sentenced to death for the first-degree murder of Jill Piper and two counts of attempted first-degree murder for wounding Richard Byrd Jr. and Terri Rice in the August 1976 attack. Court records indicate Lucas, then 24, had known Piper for four years and had previously dated her. He was arrested for trespassing at her home about a week before the shooting.

Investigators stated that on the day of the attack, Lucas had two confrontations with Piper. Witnesses testified that Lucas had threatened to kill her. Piper had asked Byrd and Rice to stay with her for protection. Lucas later arrived at Piper's home with a rifle and shot Piper multiple times before firing at and wounding her friends. He was arrested the following day.

Lucas's sentencing journey involved multiple judicial reviews. He was initially sentenced to death in 1977 with a unanimous jury recommendation. Subsequent Florida Supreme Court rulings led to resentencing in 1980, 1985, 1987, and finally in 1990 by the same judge who had previously sentenced him. None of the subsequent appeals were successful.

Florida has the busiest execution schedule in the nation. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed death warrants for two more executions scheduled for later in September. Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., convicted of kidnapping and strangling a man, is scheduled to be executed on Sept. 10. Curtis Wilkie Beasley, convicted of murder and robbery in 1995, is scheduled for Sept. 29.

All Florida executions are carried out using a lethal injection protocol involving a sedative, a paralytic, and a drug that induces cardiac arrest.