Florida Inmate Convicted in 1988 Rape and Murder Scheduled for Execution Thursday

Richard Barry Randolph, 63, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke for the 1988 rape and fatal beating of his former manager at a Palatka convenience store. Randolph was convicted in 1989 of murder, armed robbery, sexual battery and grand theft and was sentenced to death that year.

Court records say Randolph forced entry at the Handy-Way convenience store where he had once worked in August 1988. The manager, Minnie Ruth McCollum, confronted him and the two struggled. Investigators allege Randolph then beat, strangled, stabbed and raped McCollum before leaving the store and taking her car.

Three witnesses outside the store saw Randolph leaving and, noting the store appeared to be in disorder, called the sheriff’s office. A deputy found McCollum alive; she was flown to a hospital in a coma and died six days later from severe brain injuries, according to medical reports.

Randolph was arrested shortly afterward at a Jacksonville grocery store while attempting to borrow money and to cash lottery tickets reportedly stolen from the convenience store. Authorities say he admitted to the assault and directed investigators to discarded bloody clothing.

Appeals and broader context

Last week, the Florida Supreme Court denied Randolph’s appeals. He had argued that a lower court abused its discretion by denying him access to public records and that his defense attorneys had acted without his consent. A final appeal remained pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

If the execution proceeds, it would be Florida’s 17th of 2025, extending the state’s record for executions in a single year since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976. As of now, 43 men have been executed nationwide by court order this year, and more than a dozen additional executions remain scheduled across 2025 and into next year.

Other scheduled executions in Florida

Two more executions in Florida are scheduled in December under death warrants signed by the governor. Mark Allen Geralds, 58, is scheduled for Dec. 9; he was convicted of fatally stabbing a woman during a home-invasion robbery. Frank Athen Walls, 58, is scheduled for Dec. 18; he was convicted of fatally shooting a man and a woman during a home-invasion robbery and later confessed to three additional killings.

Florida’s lethal injection protocol uses a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.