Florida man executed for neighbor's murder

A 65-year-old man convicted of raping and murdering his neighbor was executed by lethal injection in Florida on Tuesday.

Norman Grim had dropped appeals against his death sentence and was put to death at 6:14 pm (2214 GMT) at the Florida State Prison in Raiford, the Florida Department of Corrections said.

Grim was convicted of the 1998 murder and sexual battery of Cynthia Campbell, a 41-year-old lawyer who lived next door to him. He was sentenced to death in 2000.

There have now been 41 executions in the United States this year, the most since 2012, when 43 inmates died this way.

Florida has carried out the most executions, with 15 including Grim's. There have been five each in Alabama and Texas.

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Thirty-four of this year's executions have been carried out by lethal injection, two by firing squad and five by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.

The use of nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment has been denounced by United Nations experts as cruel and inhumane.

The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others -- California, Oregon and Pennsylvania -- have moratoriums in place.

President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment and, on his first day in office, called for an expansion of its use "for the vilest crimes."

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