FLORIDA MAN CONVICTED OF KILLING GROCERY STORE OWNER SCHEDULED FOR EXECUTION. (PHOTO).

 Florida man convicted of killing grocery store owner scheduled for execution

 A man convicted of killing a grocery store owner during a 1986 robbery is scheduled to be executed Tuesday evening in Florida, becoming the state’s second execution this year. Melvin Trotter, 65, is set to receive a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, beginning at 6 p.m. Trotter was first convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1987, but the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing after finding errors in how the trial court handled aggravating factors. He was resentenced to death in 1993.

Court records show that Trotter strangled and stabbed Virgie Langford at her Palmetto store. Langford was found alive by a truck driver and was able to describe her attacker before dying at a hospital. She recalled that he wore a Tropicana employee badge with the name “Melvin.” Investigators later discovered a T-shirt with Langford’s blood type at Trotter’s home and his handprint on a meat cooler at the store. Last week, the Florida Supreme Court rejected appeals from Trotter’s attorneys, who argued that the state mismanaged death penalty protocols and that his age should exempt him from execution. His final appeals remain pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Florida has already carried out one execution this year and has two more scheduled in March. Executions in the state are performed using a combination of a sedative, a paralytic, and a heart-stopping drug.