The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops (FCCB) has requested that Governor Ron DeSantis halt the execution of Duane Owen.

It sent a letter to DeSantis, urging him to intervene in the case of convicted murderer Duane Owen. The letter, signed off on by Michael Sheedy, the executive director of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, specifically requests Owen's sentence be changed to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. 

“Taking Mr. Owen’s life will not restore the lives of the victims,” Sheedy said in the letter. “Intentionally ending his life will do nothing but perpetuate violence in a society steeped in it. Justice does not demand state-sanctioned killing that disrespects the dignity and sacredness of human life. Rather, justice is best served by the alternative punishment of life-long incarceration. Society must be kept safe from Mr. Owen and those like him, but that can be done effectively without resorting to more violence.”

The FCCB's letter, requesting a stay of execution, represents the fourth such appeal made this year. All previously requested halts to executions, involving convicted murderers such as Donald Dillbeck in February, Louis Gaskin in April, and Darryl Barwick in May, have been disregarded and carried out, the FCCB said. 

Owen’s death is scheduled to be carried out at 6 p.m. on June 15. He is set to be executed by lethal injection for two distinct acts of murder and sexual battery. These crimes were committed in 1984 against 14-year-old student Karen Slattery and 38-year-old mother of two, Georgianna Worden, WPTV reported. 

"There are also notable mitigating circumstances presented in Mr. Owen’s case," Sheedy said in the letter, highlighting many points of potential mental illness. Sheedy touched on different unfortunate circumstances in Owen's childhood that may have contributed to his behavior. "He was raised by alcoholic parents who both died when he was a very young child, he lived in an abusive orphanage, endured physical and sexual abuse, and suffered from organic brain damage. Such traumatic experiences and injuries have been shown to profoundly affect a child’s development and subsequent behavior.”