On Wednesday, Cuban immigrant Juan Carlos Chavez succumbed to his death by lethal injection for the kidnapping, rape and murder of a Florida boy who was 9 years old at the time, a spokesman for the state governor said. Governor Rick Scott's press aide Jackie Schutz said Chavez's time of death was at 8:17PM at the Florida State Prison at Starke. Chavez confessed to the gruesome crimes he committed to Jimmy Ryce, Reuters said in a report.
In the wake of the killing, a state law was passed that had cleared the way for the incarcerated sexual offenders, who would be held after their release if they were found guilty of committing their crimes multiple times. The law was a landmark registration in the US as several states have replicated it to their jurisdiction, the news agency said.
The execution of Chavez was reportedly delayed briefly by a last-minute appeal filed by the immigrant's lawyers, which was eventually turned down by the Supreme Court.
Reuters said Chavez, who initially had no criminal history prior to the brutal abuse and killing of Bryce, had worked as a farmhand. He was charged and found guilty for kidnapping Bryce at gunpoint as the victim got off a school bus in Redland, which is an agricultural area located south of Miami-Dade County.
The news agency said Chavez took the boy to his trailer and raped Bryce. When the boy attempted to escape, Chavez reportedly shot him in the back, and later dismembered Bryce and hid his remains in several concrete-filled plastic pots.
Jimmy's father, Don Rice, recently said that he and his wife had wanted to turn their son's slaying into something positive as thanks to the many individuals and groups who had helped the family in finding the boy, according to ABC Action News. The Rice family reportedly did not want to wallow in misery despite the horrific slaying of Jimmy.
"You've got to do something or you do nothing. That was just not the way we wanted to live the rest of our lives," the Rice patriarch said.
