Lavonne Patricia Sailer, a 48-year-old woman, was murdered on March 1, 1976, in Melbourne, Florida. She was hitchhiking when she was picked up by Jeffrey Joseph Daugherty and his accomplice, Bonnie Heath. Daugherty and Heath took Sailer to an isolated area near the Brevard County dump, where Daugherty robbed her and then shot her five times at close range with a .22 caliber pistol.
Daugherty had embarked on a violent crime spree, committing multiple robberies and murders over a twenty-day period. He was eventually arrested and charged with multiple crimes, including the first-degree murder, robbery, and kidnapping of Lavonne Sailer. Daugherty pled guilty to these charges, and a jury was impaneled for the sentencing phase. The jury recommended a sentence of death, which was imposed by the judge. In addition to the death sentence for Sailer's murder, Daugherty received life sentences for robbery and kidnapping.
The trial court found aggravating factors in Daugherty’s case, including his prior convictions for violent crimes. He had previously been convicted of multiple murders, including the killing of a woman in her sixties during a robbery, the stabbing of another woman after robbing her business, and the shooting of a gas station attendant during a robbery. These prior convictions contributed to the court’s decision to impose the death penalty.
Daugherty was executed by the State of Florida on November 7, 1988, via the electric chair. Before his execution, he criticized the legal system, stating that executions served no purpose. His execution was witnessed by protesters and supporters of capital punishment, including actress Margot Kidder. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal, and he was pronounced dead at 5:16 p.m. on the day of his execution.
