UPDATE: 7:55pm Thursday, February 13==============
AFTER THE EXECUTION: Hear what the families of the victims of James Ford had to say about a nearly 3-decade wait for what they called "relief and justice:"
"This is the day of final justice for Greg and Kim," said Connie Ankney, Greg's mother. "We have fought for 27 years to get here and we didn’t have time to take care of ourselves in the grieving process."
The family of Greg and Kim Malnory sat in the witness room to watch Ford's execution. He went from breathing heavy to taking his last breath.
"We have justice and relief now, even though it was a very peaceful death for him," said Deidra Parkinson, step-mother of Kim. "Sam (Kim's sister) and I are both comfortable knowing he will never ever be able to murder anyone again."
Ford was asked if he wanted to make a statement, but shook his head no.
"I thought he was gutless like he always was," Ankney said to Ford's lack of response. "He took the coward’s way out."
WATCH BELOW TO SEE KAITLIN KNAPP'S COVERAGE OF THE EXECUTION AND THE FAMILY'S RESPONSE:
Parkinson described Kim as bubbly, sweet, giggly and lving.
"The thing I miss most about Kimberly is she was the mediator of the family," she said, holding back tears. "Last words I heard from her: love you, too."
Those last words came the day before their death. Parkinson asked them to cover over, but Kim said they were going to Greg's mother's house for dinner after other things.
She said Ford showed up at their house on April 6, 1997. Parkinson said he was not invited. They had plans to go fishing at the South Florida Sod Farm, with permission from his employer.
"Greg loved to go out fishing and be one of those good ol’ boys," Ankney said.
He and Greg worked there together, but Ford had only been there for about six weeks, Parkinson said.
She says Ford insisted on going with them to show them the best spot to fish on the farm and maybe they could catch a hog.
Out of nowhere, Ford snapped.
"Ford, a few yards behind the truck, shot Greg in the head," Parkinson said.
He then beat Greg and cut his throat. Then, he went to Kim to rape and kill her.
Though the couple is gone, they did leave a piece of them behind — a daughter.
"She [Kim] fought like hell. Her bloody handprints were on Maranda’s little shorts," Parkinson said.
She was with her parents when they were murdered, and survived.
Maranda was not at the execution, but did provide a statement:
Ankney didn't hold back when it came to speaking about the length of time it took to execute Ford.
"There’s no sense in the system taking 27 years with all of the DNA that is out there," she said. "There’s no sense in sitting there."
Ankney started Parents of Murdered Children in Charlotte County because she couldn't find resources after Greg and Kim were killed.
"There is not book written for what to do with a mother of a murdered child," she said.
With Ford gone, the family is moving forward.
Ankney said these words shortly before leaving Florida State Prison.
"I got to see the day that my son’s murderer got to go to sleep, so I hope he burns in hell."
WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER THE EXECUTION:
Kaitlin Knapp was one of very few reporters who witnessed Ford's execution.
The Florida Department of Corrections picked up the media witnesses in a van and took them to the prison.
From there, they could only bring an ID, $5 and their car keys inside.
Because no cameras were allowed, the DOC provided two notepads and two pencils.
Once through heavy security measures, the reporters sat in a visitation room before going to the other end of the prison via a van.
When the reporters left the van, they entered the witness room.
It was already full of family members and other witnesses, including Dan Feinberg, an Assistant State Attorney who argued for the State against Ford's appeals and motions. 23 people were in the room, not including reporters and DOC personnel.
Reporters sat in the back row and everyone was sitting shoulder to shoulder.
The room was quiet besides a cough here and there. You can only hear the air conditioner running at 67 degrees.
People sitting in the four rows face the glass that's covered with a curtain. Nearby are two guards and other DOC employees.
At 6:00 p.m., the curtain lifted. You can see a clock directly above Ford.
He had a white sheet on him. You can only see his left hand sticking out and his head.
Ford was strapped in with a cover over his left hand and he had an IV in his left arm. At first glance, Ford is blinking quickly.
There are three men in suits in the room.
The Team Warden calls the Governor's Office, speaks to them and looks at Ford.
He asks Ford if he has any last words, to which Ford shakes his head no.
The Team Warden said the execution process has begun.
By 6:02 p.m., his eyes closed and he was breathing heavily from 6:02 p.m. to 6:04 p.m.
In a lethal execution, the DOC injects a drug to put the person to sleep.
At 6:05 p.m., the Team Warden seems to tap Ford's eyes. Then, he shook Ford by his shoulders twice and yelled, "Ford! Ford!"
From 6:07 p.m. to 6:17 p.m., the Team Warden said Ford's name at least twice. He said a few other things between that time, but with a muted microphone, you could not tell what was said.
At 6:18 p.m., a doctor came from behind a curtain and two of the men moved to the foot of the gurney, blocking the view of some witnesses.
The doctor shines a light into Ford's eyes and checked his heart.
Ford was declared dead at 6:19 p.m. The Team Warden got back on the phone, which goes to the Governor's Office.
He then looked at the witnesses and announced the execution of James Ford.
UPDATE: 7:30pm Thursday, February 13==============
When asked by prison officials, James Ford did not have any final words he wished to speak out loud.
To this day, the families of the victims do not know what motivated Ford to do what he did. And they will never know, because his final words in a written statement shed no light on his crime.
On paper bearing his signature, it reads "Hugs, Prayers, Love!!! GOD Bless everyone!!!
ORIGINAL REPORTING ====================
For 26 years, a convicted killer has sat on death row in a prison cell in northern Florida. Behind a steel door is James Ford, who killed Gregory and Kimberly Malnory in Charlotte County in 1997. On Thursday, at 6:19pm, Ford died by lethal injection.
Fox 4 Senior Reporter spoke to a detective on the case and a prosecutor who handled Ford's appeals after his conviction and sentence:
The crime happened on April 6, 1997. That's the same day life changed for a 2-year-old girl.
Greg and Kim were killed at South Florida Sod Farm in east Charlotte County. Their daughter was there during the killings, and survived.
"She was innocent — she was totally innocent," said Charlotte County Sheriff's Office Major James Kenville.
He was one of the responding deputies when the crime happened.
"They needed a supervisor to oversee the investigation into this double homicide," he said. "I did get to go see the scene, observe the vehicle in place."
It was a murder scene he saw firsthand, and later, he came to find out how brutal it was.
Greg and Kim were shot, beaten, among other heinous crimes.
"I think the biggest thing that was shocking and disturbing was the fact that a young child was left in the vehicle," Kenville said.
She was left in a truck for more than 18 hours before someone found Greg and Kim dead near the truck.
With the little girl safe, the work began to find the killer. Detectives looked for evidence and interview people, like James Ford. He worked with Greg and had planned to go fishing together that day.
Kenville talked to Ford a few times.
"During this investigation, I spent some time with him in a pick-up, going through the property, having him recount what their activities were that day," he explained. "He was very cool. When we talked to him, he was very cool, he was believable when you talk to him, but the physical evidence was telling us that wasn’t the case."
Kenville said they had some definite concerns with Ford, and detectives say the evidence, testimony and factors at the scene led to Ford's arrest for murder and other charges a little more than a week after the killings.
Two years later, Ford was convicted of the murders and was sentenced to death, though his time in court didn't end there.
"I was in the office at the time the case was tried, I sat and watched some of the trial that was done by another Assistant State Attorney," said Assistant State Attorney Dan Feinberg. "...and during the penancey of the case after his conviction, I worked on what’s called post-conviction issues."
Ford filed several appeals and post-conviction motions.
Feinberg says the first appeal took two years.
"By 2001, the Supreme Court denied the appeal and the conviction would stand," he said.
But within a two-year period, Ford could file a post-conviction motion. Feinberg says it can address matters not in the record such as challenging evidence or raising issues with if he had effective counsel.
"It took another four years for the motion to travel through courts and come up with a disposition," Feinberg said. "The defendant files a second and a third post-conviction motion, which are called successive motions."
But in all those cases, no new issues were found.
"Lastly, after the death warrant was signed this year, he was given the opportunity one more time — do you have anything else, do you have anything new and the trial court found that there was not," Feinberg explained.
The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court after the Florida Supreme Court denied Ford's motion and appeal to put a stay on the execution.
On Wednesday, Justice Clarence Thomas denied the appeal and petition, meaning nothing else can be done to stop the execution, which is set to happen on Thursday at 6 p.m.
"Over the years, they have all found that there wasn’t any significant post-conviction issue that should change the outcome of the case."
The death penalty has been argued for some time. Back in 1999, Feinberg says only seven of 12 jurors had to agree on the death penalty for it to be the recommended sentence. Then it became unanimous for a short period of time.
In 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law to change it to eight jurors.
This case has taken more than 25 years to get to this point.
"The death penalty, post conviction proceedings should take a reasonable amount of time. I would suggest this time is unreasonable," Feinberg said. "Sometimes the system doesn’t move as swiftly as it should. That’s the frustrating part."
Feinberg, now a cold case prosecutor for the State Attorney's Office, says this isn't closure for the family.
"But they had to deal with 28 years of this case being in the courts after arrest, after conviction, after the sentence is announced and still not having a finale — that will be final, but I don’t say that’s closure," Feinberg said.
Kenville sees it a little differently.
"Not to have a cliche, but the fact of the matter is that this is coming to an end and there will be some closure for the family," Kenville said. "Albeit what it is, but it’s closure and this family went through a lot with this."
Fox 4 Senior Reporter Kaitlin Knapp will be at the execution on Thursday. Cameras are not allowed inside the prison, but Knapp will be able to write down what happens.
