The Florida man whose rape case changed state legislation concerning violent sexual predators will be put to death on the evening of February 12, Reuters reported.
The state's governor Rick Scott signed a death warrant for 46-year-old Juan Carlos Chavez, who confessed to kidnapping, raping and killing Jimmy Ryce, 9 in 1995.
Chavez reportedly abducted Ryce as he was exiting the school bus in the Redlands - a rural area in south Miami-Dade County where Chavez worked as an agricultural laborer, Reuters reported. He admitted to pushing the child into his vehicle, taking him to his trailer and sexually assaulting him. Chavez killed the 9-year-old after he tried to run away a few hours later, shooting the child in the back, then taking his body apart limb by limb.
Authorities discovered Ryce's remains three months following the kidnapping, close to Chavez's trailer. Inside the mobile home, officials found the child's book bag for school.
Three years after the murder, Florida legislators passed the Jimmy Ryce Act with unanimous support, Reuters reported. Under the law, sex offenders in the state face indefinite civil commitment after they've served their jail time.
Ryce's family members became heavily involved in advocacy for heightened awareness of abducted and missing children following Jimmy's death. Father Don Ryce wrote a statement concerning news of the execution obtained by Reuters, in which he expressed both "sadness and relief."
"I hope this sends a message to predators that this behavior will not go unpunished," he wrote in the statement.
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