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By KATE BRUMBACK, Associated Press

STARKE — A man convicted of fatally stabbing and beating a woman during a home invasion decades ago was executed Tuesday evening in Florida.

Mark Allen Geralds, 58, was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison for the February 1989 murder of Tressa Pettibone. The execution was the 18th in Florida this year, further extending the state record for total executions in a single year with one more planned next week.

Asked if he add any last words, Geralds addressed someone who was present for the execution and said, “I’m sorry that I missed you.” He then said, “I loved you every day.” It wasn’t immediately clear who he was addressing.

Once the drugs began flowing, he

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