STARKE, Fla. - A former Marine convicted of killing a 6-year-old girl more than four decades ago is scheduled Thursday to be executed in Florida , which would be the record 16th death sentence carried out under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis .

Barring a last-minute reprieve, Bryan Frederick Jennings, 66, is set to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison near Starke . Jennings was convicted and sentenced to death twice for the 1979 murder in Brevard County, both of which were reversed on appeal. The final trial in 1986 resulted in a third death sentence.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied his final appeal Wednesday.

The backstory:

According to court records, Jennings was a 20-year-old on leave from the Marine Corps on May 11, 1979, when he took down a screen

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