--- description: Chadwick Banks, who spent half his life in prison, was executed on Thursday by lethal injection title: Florida Executes Killer image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49384a976fc7df82/698768ba55a8593a5fa84191/rtr4e1vu.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Florida Executes Man Convicted of Killing His Wife and Stepdaughter by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 14, 2014 8:49 AM CUT  Death-row inmate Chadwick Banks is seen in an undated picture from the Florida Department of Corrections in Raiford, Fla. Death-row inmate Chadwick Banks is seen in an undated picture from the Florida Department of Corrections in Raiford, Fla.Handout—Reuters by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 14, 2014 8:49 AM CUT A Florida man who spent more than 20 years in prison for killing his wife and stepdaughter [was executed](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/14/us-usa-florida-execution-idUSKCN0IY02720141114 "undefined") by the state on Thursday. Chadwick Banks, 43, was administered a lethal injection on Thursday evening at the Florida State Prison, Reuters reports. Banks was arrested in 1992, four days after he fatally shot his wife Cassandra Banks while she was sleeping. He later confessed to raping and killing his 10-year-old stepdaughter Melody Cooper soon after the shooting. Banks’ execution is the 89th in Florida since the U.S. reinstated the death penalty in 1976. \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/14/us-usa-florida-execution-idUSKCN0IY02720141114 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3585206/florida-executes-chadwick-banks/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3585206/florida-executes-chadwick-banks/"},"headline":"Florida Executes Man Convicted of Killing His Wife and Stepdaughter","datePublished":"2014-11-14T08:49:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:26:25.852Z","description":"Chadwick Banks had spent half his life in prison","url":"https://time.com/3585206/florida-executes-chadwick-banks/","keywords":["Murder","Rape","Crime","Death Penalty","Florida","lethal injection"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49384a976fc7df82/698768ba55a8593a5fa84191/rtr4e1vu.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49384a976fc7df82/698768ba55a8593a5fa84191/rtr4e1vu.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Death row inmate Chadwick Banks is seen in an undated picture from the Florida Department of Corrections in Raiford, Florida","caption":"Death row inmate Chadwick Banks is seen in an undated picture from the Florida Department of Corrections in Raiford, Florida","creditText":"Handout—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3585206/florida-executes-chadwick-banks/","name":"Florida Executes Man Convicted of Killing His Wife and Stepdaughter"}}]}] ```