An American man nicknamed the “Ninja Assassin” was executed Wednesday night in Florida, more than 30 years after he committed a double murder during a burglary, AFP and News.ro reported.

Louis Gaskin’s execution took place at a Florida penitentiary after the Supreme Court rejected the 56-year-old’s latest appeal.

On December 20, 1989, he committed a bloody robbery dressed in all black – hence his nickname in the American press – to steal Christmas presents for his girlfriend.

Armed with a handgun, he entered the home of a couple in their fifties in New Jersey, fired first through a window, fatally shooting the husband and injuring his wife. He then followed her and fatally shot her as well.

Louis Gaskin stole some items, money and jewelry from this house and then went to a second house where he repeated the attack. There he injured a man, but managed to escape with a partner in a car. Ten days later, he was detained on the information of a relative, he confessed to the crime.

At the trial, the jury found him guilty of murder. But only eight of the 12 jurors voted for the death penalty. Today, a jury must be unanimous in order to impose the death penalty, but that was not the case back then.

Three decades of calls from an American criminal

In the years that followed, his attorneys filed numerous appeals, citing their client’s various psychiatric problems. In 1991, the Florida Court of Appeals found that he suffered from schizophrenia and auditory hallucinations, but found that he was aware of the gravity of his actions and was therefore criminally responsible.

His other appeals were unsuccessful, and last month Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a warrant setting a date for his execution.

The Republican politician, who has presidential ambitions and is a rival of Donald Trump, particularly among the American right, has approved only two executions in his first term, but has signed three such orders this year alone.

Since the beginning of the year in the USA, 10 convicts have been executed in only four states (five in Texas, two in Missouri, two in Florida and one in Oklahoma).