Florida executes man with drug not previously used in lethal injections

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., Aug 24 (Reuters) - Florida on Thursday executed a 53-year-old man convicted of two 1987 murders, administering a lethal injection that included a drug never before used in a U.S. execution, state officials said. The execution was carried out at 6:22 p.m. (2222 GMT) at the Florida State Prison in Bradford County, about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Jacksonville, where the two murders took place.

Mark James Asay was the first white man to be put to death in Florida for killing a black man since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1979.

Asay was sentenced to death in 1988 for the killing of two men in separate incidents on the same day a year earlier. After using a racial slur during an argument, Asay shot Robert Lee Booker in the belly. He killed Robert McDowell by shooting him multiple times in the chest. Asay said later he believed McDowell had cheated him out of $10.

Booker was black and McDowell was white.

Asay's last meal consisted of his requested fried ham, fried pork chops, french fries, vanilla swirl ice cream and a can of Coca-Cola, said Ashley Cook, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Corrections.

Asay is the 93rd person to have been executed in Florida since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in the country in the mid-1970s, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. That includes 91 men and two women. (Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Dan Grebler and Cynthia Osterman)