Women on Death Row

Women Who Have Received The Death Penalty in Florida

No Picture Available Bertha Hall 23, and Gordon Denmark, 22, were sentenced 10/9/26 to the electric chair for the killing of her grocer husband. The death sentences of Hall and Denmark were commuted in 1929. She was sentenced from Duval County and released in late 1934 or early 1935.
no photo available Billie Jackson WF, was sentenced in Duval County on 2/1/27 for the stabbing death of her musician husband. Her sentence was commuted seven months later by Gov. Martin and she was released in 1935-36.
No Picture Available Ruby McCollum BF, born 1901 was sentenced in Suwannee County in 1954. She was convicted of shooting a doctor in Live Oak on 8/3/52 and spent two years in jail awaiting death until the Florida Supreme Court reversed the sentence. She was sent to the state mental hospital in Chattahoochee before re-trial and remained there 20 years before she was released to her family in 1974.
No Picture Available Irene Laverne Jackson BF, born 6/26/19, was, with her son and another man, sentenced to death in Pasco County 4/24/62 for murdering her husband for his insurance money. A new trial had been ordered and she was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for second degree murder in the second trial on 2/6/64. She was paroled on 1/17/72 and discharged from parole status in 1980.
Maria Dean Arrington Maria Dean Arrington BF, born 8/16/33, was sentenced form Volusia County on 5/22/68 to twenty years for manslaughter in the death of her husband. While out of prison on appeal bond, she sought revenge against the public defender who unsuccessfully defended two of her children on felony charges. On 12/6/68, in Hernando County, she was sentenced to death for first degree murder in the killing of the secretary of the Lake County public defender. While at Florida C.I., she escaped by cutting through a heavy window screen. She became the second woman ever to be named to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. She was captured two years later, on 3/14/72 in Marion County. She was sentenced to 10 more years for escape. Her death sentence was commuted to life on 8/28/72 when the U.S. Supreme Court determined capital punishment laws unconstitutional. She is in prison at Lowell Correctional Institution.
Sonia Jacobs Sonia Jacobs WF, born 8/24/47, was convicted in 1976 for her part in the shooting deaths of a Florida Highway Patrol trooper and his friend, a Canadian constable on vacation. Jessie J. Tafero was also sentenced to death for the same crime. Jacobs began her sentence at Broward C.I. on 8/20/76. Her sentence was overturned by Supreme Court on 3/26/81 and she was resentenced to life with a 25-year minimum mandatory term. On 10/9/92 her case was reversed on appeal. She plead to second degree murder, time served and was released on 10/9/92.
Kaysie B. Dudley Kaysie B. Dudley WF, born 7/24/63, was sentenced to death in Pinellas County on 1/27/87 for the murder of her mother's employer, a wealthy Redington Beach widow, on 9/30/85. She was resentenced to life with 25 year minimum mandatory on 10/2/89. She is at Lowell Correctional Institution.
Carla A Caillier 160904 Carla A Caillier WF, born 9/11/63, was sentenced in Hillsborough County on 3/19/87 for the murder of her husband on 11/20/86 in Tampa. She was re-sentenced to life with a minimum mandatory 25 years on 7/26/88.
Dee D. Casteel 161033 Dee D. Casteel WF, born 6/5/38, was sentenced in Dade County on 9/16/87 for the 1983 murder of an 84 year old woman. The woman had begun asking about her missing son, who Casteel and a fellow employee had ordered killed a month before. Casteel paid two mechanics to kill the woman. Her death sentence was vacated on 12/6/90. She was resentenced to life on 12/19/91 and died at Broward Correctional Institution on October 7, 2002.
Deidre Hunt 161918 Deidre Hunt WF, born 2/9/69, was sentenced from Volusia County on 9/13/90 for the 10/20/89 shooting murders of two men she involved in a murder for money scheme. She was videotaped shooting one of the men by her co-defendant Kosta Fotopoulos, her former boss and lover. She plead guilty. She was resentenced to life on May 7, 1998. She is at Homestead Correctional Institution.
Andre Hicks Jackson 279567 Andrea Hicks Jackson BF, born 2/26/58, was sentenced in Duval County on 2/10/84, for the murder of a Jacksonville police officer. She shot the officer five times when he tried to arrest her on 5/17/83 for filing a false report about a vandalized car. She was the first woman in Florida to have her death warrant signed, which occurred on 3/7/89. Her warrant was stayed on 5/4/89 by the Florida Supreme Court. She was resentenced to life on June 16, 2000. She is at Lowell Correctional Institution.
Virginia Larzelere 842556 Virginia Larzelere WF, born 12/27/52, was sentenced from Volusia County on 5/11/93 for masterminding the killing of her husband, an Edgewater dentist. She was resentenced to life on August 1, 2008. She is at Lowell Correctional Institution.

Women Who Have Been Executed in Florida


Judias Goodyear Buenoano 160663 Judias Goodyear Buenoano WF, born 4/4/43, was sentenced in Orange County on 11/26/85, for the 9/16/71 death of her husband by poisoning him with arsenic. Nicknamed the "Black Widow," Goodyear was also convicted (and sentenced to life) for the May 13, 1980 drowning murder of her paralyzed son in Santa Rosa County. She had two death warrants signed and stayed. On March 30, 1998, the state of Florida executed Bueonano. She was the first woman to die in the electric chair in Florida.
Aileen Wuornos 150924 Aileen Wuornos WF, born 2/29/56, was sentenced from Volusia County on 1/31/92 for the December 1, 1989 shooting murder of a Clearwater businessman. She has been implicated in the deaths of several other men. She was executed on October 9, 2002.

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Women Currently on Death Row

Tiffany Cole 335212 Tiffany Cole WF, born 12/3/81, was sentenced from Duval County on March 6, 2008 for her role in the double murder of a Jacksonville couple who were buried alive. She is currently on death row at Lowell Correctional Institution.
Margaret Allen 699575 Margaret A. Allen BF, born 1/23/66, was sentenced to death from Brevard County on May 19, 2011 for torturing and killing her housekeeper, Wenda Wright, whom she thought had stolen money from her purse. The jury unanimously voted for the death penalty for her. She also got a life sentence for kidnapping. Prosecutors said the torture went on for hours before Wright was strangled with a belt. Allen's roommate, James Martin, and nephew, Quinton Allen, were both convicted for their part in helping her try to bury the body in a shallow grave.
Tina Brown 155917 Tina Brown BF, born 7/19/1970, arrived on Death Row in October 2013 for the brutal death of Audreanna Zimmerman. Brown beat her victim with a stun gun, hit her with a crow bar, and set her on fire. The victim died two weeks later from her injuries.

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