Florida executed a man on Thursday for the 1997 murder of his estranged wife, bringing the state's total number of executions this year to 13.
The execution of Michael Frank Diaz, 57, was carried out by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Starkey. Diaz was convicted in 2000 of first-degree murder for the killing of Carol Susan Bell.
Bell's body was discovered in her car in a church parking lot on January 27, 1997. She had been shot twice. Diaz was arrested later that year and confessed to shooting Bell during an argument, according to court records. He maintained that the shooting was accidental.
Florida has carried out more executions than any other state this year. The state's use of the death penalty has been a subject of ongoing debate.