Florida to execute former Marine convicted of killing 6-year-old girl decades ago
A former Marine convicted of the brutal killing of a 6-year-old girl more than forty years ago is scheduled to be executed Thursday evening in Florida, marking what will be the 16th execution under Republican Governor Ron DeSantis if carried out. Bryan Frederick Jennings, 66, is set to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Starke. Jennings was first convicted and sentenced to death in 1979 for the murder of Rebecca Kunash in Brevard County, but his initial two death sentences were overturned on appeal. A third trial in 1986 once again resulted in a death sentence, which has now been upheld after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal on Wednesday.
Court records show that Jennings, then a 20-year-old Marine on leave, removed a window screen at the Kunash family’s home on May 11, 1979, and abducted Rebecca while her parents were in another room. Evidence presented at trial revealed that Jennings sexually assaulted the child near a canal before slamming her to the ground with such force that her skull fractured, then drowned her in the water. Her body was discovered later that day. Jennings was apprehended hours later on a traffic warrant, and investigators soon linked him to the crime after finding matching shoe prints, his fingerprints on the windowsill, and wet clothing and hair.
Governor DeSantis has overseen more executions in a single year than any Florida governor since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. Following Jennings’ execution, two additional inmates — Richard Barry Randolph and Mark Allen Geralds — are scheduled to die in November and December, respectively, bringing the total number of executions this year to a record 18. DeSantis has defended the increased pace, saying his administration is ensuring justice for victims’ families who have waited decades. “Some of these crimes were committed in the ‘80s,” DeSantis said. “Justice delayed is justice denied.”
Jennings’ legal team has filed numerous appeals over the years, arguing most recently that he was deprived of legal counsel for several months before DeSantis signed his death warrant and that he has not received a clemency hearing since 1988. Advocacy organizations, including Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, have criticized the process as politically motivated and said the state’s death penalty system has “become unrecognizable from the one the law promises.” Alongside the murder charge, Jennings also received life sentences for kidnapping, sexual assault, and burglary. Nationwide, 40 executions have been carried out so far this year, with at least 18 more scheduled through 2026. Florida’s executions use a three-drug combination consisting of a sedative, a paralytic agent, and a chemical that stops the heart.
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