Mark Dean Schwab

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mark Dean Schwab (born December 16, 1968) is a prisoner in the state of Florida, where he is awaiting execution for the rape and murder of eleven-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez, Jr., on April 18, 1991. He was convicted of the crime in 1992, and sentenced to death, in addition to two life sentences.

Schwab had been released on March 4, 1991, after only three years for an aggravated rape committed in 1987, for which he was sentenced to 8 years in prison. The remainder of his sentence was commuted, and he was placed on 15 years of probation.

A month later, Cocoa resident Junny Rios-Martinez, Jr., turned up missing. Schwab had seen Junny's picture in a newspaper and began to get friendly with Junny and his family, misrepresenting himself as a representative of an unknown surfing competition. On April 18, friends saw Junny get into a U-Haul truck.

On April 20, Schwab called his aunt in Ohio, claiming a man named "Donald" forced him to kidnap and rape Junny, under threat of killing Junny's mother, Vicki Rios-Martinez. The next day, police tapped a phone call with Schwab's aunt's permission, and found out where Schwab was located. Schwab was arrested, and led police to Junny's dead body, found in rural Ohio in a foot locker.

On May 15, 1991, Schwab appeared in a state court in Brevard County, Florida, where he pled not guilty to charges of First-Degree Murder, Kidnapping a Child Under Age 13 and Sexual Assault of a Child Under Age 13. Schwab waved his right to a jury trial, and was convicted the next year, on May 22, 1992. On July 1, he was sentenced to death for the murder, and two life sentences for the kidnapping and rape. In addition, his probation was revoked on the previous rape conviction, and he was re-sentenced to an additional life sentence.

The case led to the passage of the "Junny Rios-Martinez, Jr., Act of 1992", which prohibited those convicted of sexual battery from receiving early release in the state of Florida.

Repeated appeals have been denied, including the most recent, to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, on June 15, 2006. In 1997, he served a six-month "institutional adjustment" for a positive drug test. He has been at the Union Correctional Institution in Starke, Florida, since his sentencing. Once his death warrant is signed, he will be transferred to Florida State Prison next door, where the state's only death chamber exists.