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Florida Man Executed for Stepdaughter's Slaying

Chadwick Banks, 43, was pronounced dead at 7:27 p.m. He was convicted in the 1992 death of 10-year-old Melody Cooper.
Image: Chadwick Banks
In this undated arrest photo made available by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement shows inmate Chadwick Banks. Banks from Gadsden County, Fla., is scheduled to be executed Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014, for the 1992 murder of his 10-year-old stepdaughter. He also killed his sleeping wife on the same day. FDLE via AP file

A Florida man who fatally shot his sleeping wife and then raped and killed his young stepdaughter 22 years ago has been put to death for the child's slaying.

Forty-three-year-old Chadwick Banks was pronounced dead at 7:27 ET Thursday after a lethal injection at Florida State Prison, the office of Gov. Rick Scott said. Banks was condemned for the September 1992 killing of 10-year-old Melody Cooper. Banks also received a life sentence for the murder of his wife, Cassandra Banks, in a community outside the state capital of Tallahassee.

Authorities said Banks was drinking and playing pool at a bar before going home about 3 a.m. the night of the slayings. Banks shot his wife point-blank in the head and then raped and shot his stepdaughter, according to authorities.

— The Associated Press