Convicted Child Killer Executed At State Prison

Mark Schwab was executed Tuesday evening by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison. Schwab was convicted of raping and killing 11-year-old Junny Rios Martinez of Brevard County in 1991.

Tuesday morning, Schwab visited with his mother and aunt and ate his final meal of fried eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, buttered toast and chocolate milk.

A representative of the prison said Schwab was polite and followed directions and visited with his religious adviser until 30 minutes before his 6 p.m. execution.

This was the first execution since the case of Angel Diaz and Schwab’s attorneys were unsure of the Florida State Prison system’s ability to correctly administer lethal injection.

“We’re confident, our procedures have been in place since last July, we’ve held numerous trainings. The execution team has been training. They train not only for a normal execution, but for any contingencies that might arise, even things such as power failure, so we’re very confident,” state prison spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said prior to the execution.

Officials said that after the Diaz execution, a commission on the administration of execution by lethal injection was formed by the governor. The commission submitted 37 recommendations to assure a correct and humane execution.

All 37 recommendations have been accepted, such as additional lighting in the execution chamber, a check of unconsciousness of the inmate after the sedative has been given and relocation of the clock inside the chamber to be visible by all inside.

"Once the needles are inserted, [Schwab] is not moved. That is what is different than 2006," Plessinger said.

The prison held an open phone line with the governor’s office and the Florida attorney general’s office to check for any last-minute stays. A final check for a stay of execution took place right before the execution.

Schwab was given the chance to make a final statement right before he was executed, but he chose not to say anything.

The Schwab family did not witness the execution. Families of death row inmates do not witness the executions in the state of Florida.

I Only saw the name of the CHILD who was murdered- one time in the article. So I went looking for more informatioon about the victim. I have a small son.

http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/ops/200514253.pdf

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
D. C. Docket No. 03-00536-CV-ORL-18JGG
MARK DEAN SCHWAB,
Petitioner-Appellant,
versus
JAMES V. CROSBY, JR., Secretary,
Florida Department of Corrections,
CHARLIE CRIST,
Attorney General,
Respondents-Appellees.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
_________________________
(June 15, 2006)
Before DUBINA, CARNES and HULL, Circuit Judges.
CARNES, Circuit Judge:
............
So far as we know, the first time that Mark Dean Schwab sexually assaulted a young male was in the fall of 1986, when Schwab was seventeen years old. His victim was a younger, slightly built (4’10” tall, 85 lbs.), high school sophomore whose first name, which is all we will use, was Warren. On his way to school in Brevard County, Florida one morning, Warren walked by Schwab’s truck in the
parking lot of a bank near the school. Schwab asked Warren to help him start the truck, which he did, although the truck started easily. Warren then made the
mistake of accepting Schwab’s offer of a ride to school. As soon as Schwab drove the truck out of the parking lot, he grabbed Warren’s hair, pulled Warren’s head
into his lap, and put a knife against his throat. Schwab drove the truck down some winding dirt roads and eventually parked it so that a tree blocked the passenger
door. With Warren trapped inside the truck, Schwab ordered him to remove his shorts. He then began to masturbate Warren. After a few minutes he ordered Warren to masturbate himself and he performed oral sex on Warren. Schwab’s
assault on Warren lasted 30 to 45 minutes. Afterwards, he drove Warren to the high school and threatened to kill him if he told anyone what had happened.

Two days later, as Warren was again walking to school, Schwab pulled up alongside him, gave him a $20 bill, and thanked him for not telling anyone. Warren did not
see Schwab after that and did not come forward about the crime until he heard about the disappearance of the young boy in this case, which happened five years later.

In the meantime, Schwab’s next known sexual assault occurred during the summer of 1987. This time his victim, first name Than, was a thirteen-year-old boy (between 5’3” and 5’6” tall). In order to get his hands on Than, Schwab called the boy and his family, telling them he had adopted a dog that they had given to a local pet shelter. He said that he needed their advice about how to care for the dog.
Using that ruse, over the next few weeks Schwab visited Than’s home in Brevard County several times, ingratiating himself with the family.

About three weeks after first meeting Than, Schwab called him one morning and told him that he had a house painting job on which he could use some help. Schwab promised to give Than half of the $400 that he expected to be paid for the work. Than agreed, and a little while later Schwab picked him up. Instead of driving Than to the painting job, Schwab took him to his house. Immediately after
the two walked inside Schwab’s house, he stuck a knife to Than’s throat. Schwab then forced Than to take off his clothes, bound his hands behind his back with a
cord, and blindfolded him. Schwab touched Than’s penis and orally molested him. Schwab then forced the thirteen-year-old boy to lie on his stomach on a couch and anally raped him. The entire ordeal lasted several hours, all morning and into the afternoon. Than blacked out during part of it.

Afterwards, Schwab untied Than, allowed him to dress, and drove him home. Schwab told Than not to tell anyone and promised that he would put $200 in Than’s mailbox the next day if he would keep quiet. Than had a small cut on his
throat from the knife and had bruises on his arms from being tied up. He reported what had happened to him, and Schwab was charged with sexual battery under Florida law. He confessed and pleaded guilty to the sexual battery charge,

He did not receive ....much punishment. Instead, on March 18, 1988, Schwab was sentenced to only eight years in prison. Unfortunately, and tragically, he did not serve his full sentence or even half of it.

In early March of 1991 Schwab was released from prison in Florida. His early release was not because he
had received any type of treatment. He hadn’t. Although he had been tentatively accepted into a sex offender program for inmates, before Schwab could complete the screening process that program was ended because of budget cuts. Still, even without treatment, Schwab was released from prison on probation only three years after he was given an eight-year sentence. He was required to participate in a
sexual offender therapy program as a condition of his probation.

In less than a month after his release, and during the time he was participating in the program, Schwab had found another victim. Junny Rios-Martinez was an eleven-year-old boy, who was 5’ tall and weighed 76 pounds. He won a kite-flying contest which led to his picture being
published in the March 21, 1991 edition of Florida Today, a local newspaper in Brevard County, Florida. Children are often excited to see their pictures in the newspaper, and Junny could not have suspected that it would ultimately cost him his life.

The day after Junny’s photograph ran in the paper his mother received a phone call from a man identifying himself as Malcom Denemark and saying that he was from the newspaper. The man told Mrs. Rios-Martinez that he had seen
Junny’s picture in the paper and wanted to interview Junny for another article. He called back later that day while Junny was at home and was allowed to speak with
him. Junny agreed to be interviewed, and his mother and the man arranged for it to take place at the Rios-Martinez home before Junny’s baseball game the following day.

That next day, which was Saturday, March 23, Schwab went to Junny’s home for the interview and introduced himself as “Mark Dean.” Schwab explained that Denemark, his associate from Florida Today, could not make the interview
because of a conflict but that he was prepared to conduct it for Denemark. Schwab carried a spiral notebook with handwriting on several pages, which he said were
questions that Denemark had prepared for the interview. Schwab did not work for any publication (he had a construction job), and he was not an associate of anyone
named Malcolm Denemark. But neither Junny nor his mother knew that, and they certainly did not know the person they had let into their home was a child molester who had just gotten out of prison.

During the interview, Schwab sat on a couch in the living room, Junny sat across from him in a rocking chair, and Mrs. Rios-Martinez sat on the couch just a few feet away. Schwab asked Junny about the things he liked to do, his favorite subject in school, his grades, whether there were drugs in school or peer pressure, and about cars. Junny showed Schwab his baseball and surfing trophies, and
Schwab told Mrs. Rios-Martinez: “You must be very proud of him.”

He gave Junny a gift certificate to McDonald’s on which was written “To: Junny. From: Florida Today (Mark).”
After the interview was over, Schwab told Mrs. Rios-Martinez that he would like to interview Junny again for another, potentially national, story and that Junny
should attend a photo shoot for the story at Florida Today’s offices the next Monday. Mrs. Rios-Martinez agreed and told Schwab that he could also take photos of Junny playing drums at a club where his father worked on Sundays.
Schwab asked Mrs. Rios-Martinez if he could go with them to Junny’s baseball game that evening, telling her that he wanted to see Junny playing and get to know
him and his family better. Mrs. Rios-Martinez consented to that, and Schwab spent a half hour at Junny’s baseball game that night.

Schwab did not show up at the club to take photographs of Junny on the next Sunday. He called Mrs. Rios-Martinez that night and told her his deadline on the story had been extended and the photo shoot canceled. The next day, Schwab
called again. This time he told Mrs. Rios-Martinez that he would no longer be involved with the article for Florida Today, because he had taken a new position with a surfing magazine. In this way, Schwab began to exploit the information he had gained about Junny’s interest in surfing during his visit to their home. Two days later Mrs. Rios-Martinez and her husband received a letter from
Schwab. In it he told them that their family was a special one, unlike any other he had ever met, and that he could tell all of the family members (there were two other
children) loved each other very much. The following Sunday, which was Easter, Schwab personally delivered an Easter card to the Rios-Martinez family.

Mrs. Rios-Martinez was at home alone. She and Schwab discussed the letter he had sent her and her husband. She told Schwab “that it had affected [her] deeply,
emotionally and that [she] was very affected by and very moved by what he had written about [her] family.”
They also discussed the new job Schwab claimed to have. He told Mrs. Rios-Martinez that he had gained a lot of contacts with surfing companies and that he would like to help Junny get sponsored by one of them. He asked her to write up a resume for Junny and to get together some pictures of him that Schwab could take to his contacts. She did.

Three days later Schwab told Mrs. Rios-Martinez that a surfing company was interested in sponsoring Junny. Later in the week, she put together more pictures of Junny, and Schwab came by the house and picked them up. He then
told Mrs. Rios-Martinez that he wanted to take Junny to Daytona Beach to meet people from the surfing company over the weekend. That did not happen because the family was not able to make the necessary arrangements. The following week Schwab dropped by the Rios-Martinez household and
told them that a surfing company, which he named, had agreed to sponsor Junny. He brought Junny a t-shirt with the company’s logo. Schwab told Junny that he could have whatever surfboard he wanted and that he could even design it himself. He said that the company also would provide Junny with surfing clothes.

Over the next several days Schwab visited the family several times. He worked with Junny on designing his surfboard and clothes. He told Mrs. Rios- Martinez that he had met with the president of the surfing company, and he handdelivered to Mrs. Rios-Martinez forged documents, purporting to be a sponsorship letter and contracts. Schwab provided the family with a list of the surfing
tournaments that he claimed Junny would participate in.
During one of his visits with them Schwab again asked Junny’s parents if he could take Junny to Daytona Beach to meet with the surfing company. They agreed.

Schwab told them that he would pick Junny up at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 14, 1991. That morning, however, he called and cancelled the trip. Mr. and Mrs. Rios-Martinez did not hear from Schwab again. Their son did.

Thursday, April 18, 1991, began like any other school day for Junny. At about 7:00 a.m., he left home for his sixth grade class at Clearlake Middle School in Brevard County. He may have been anxious about the baseball game he was
going to play in that evening. At about 2:15 p.m. that day a bookkeeper at Junny’s school received a phone
call from a man purporting to be his father. The man told her to deliver a message to Junny: “I’d like for him not to go home on the bus. I would like for him tomeet me at the ball field.” Believing the man to be Junny’s father, she contacted Junny’s classroom, had him sent to the office, and gave him the message.

At about 3:00 p.m. that day, one of Junny’s schoolmates walked with him for a short while toward the baseball field. She saw him jump the fence into the baseball field. Another of Junny’s friends later saw him and “some tall guy”
getting out of a U-Haul truck. A short while later, the friend went back by the park but the truck, the man, and Junny were gone. Junny’s baseball game started at 6:30 that evening. Mrs. Rios-Martinez went to the baseball field right after work, arriving shortly after 7:00 p.m. Junny
was not there. Her husband, who was also at the park, had not seen Junny. Mrs. Rios-Martinez immediately left for home, but Junny was not there either. She called Schwab at the number he had given her but was unable to reach him.

Later that evening she and her husband reported their son missing. Early the next morning, April 19, Schwab learned from his mother that the police had been to the apartment he shared with her and wanted to question him about a missing child. About forty-five minutes later, Schwab called his mother and told her that he was going to see his probation officer. He did not. Instead, in the late afternoon of the next day, April 20, he called his aunt in Port Washington, Ohio, nearly a thousand miles from Cocoa, Florida.

Schwab told her that a man named “Donald” had forced him at gunpoint to kidnap a boy named Junny. Schwab said that Donald had threatened to kill his mother if he did not do so. Schwab also told his aunt that Donald had forced him to have sexual relations with the young boy.

....... Schwab claimed that shortly after he returned to his motel room with Junny, Donald entered the room, locked the door behind him, drew his gun, and told Schwab: “Now I got you, you son of a bitch.” Donald used duct tape to bind
Junny’s hands behind his back and a knife to cut Junny’s clothes off of him. Donald told Schwab that he “was going to have to do something to this kid sexually.” When Junny started to cry, Donald struck him “a couple times” and
then taped his mouth shut. Donald then put his gun to the back of Schwab’s head and forced him to have anal intercourse with Junny.

....... At about 10:00 p.m., Schwab led the officers to a largely undeveloped part of the county. Once there Schwab walked down an unpaved road, stopped, began pacing around in the road, and then pointed into the woods. The search team crossed a drainage ditch and walked into the woods in the direction that Schwab pointed. Not far from the road, they saw a small footlocker tied nearly shut with rope and covered with palm fronds and debris, which obviously had been placed there to hide it.

The lid of the footlocker was slightly open and a white cloth was visible inside. Even from ten feet away, the team could tell from the smell that a human body was inside. It had been five days since Junny was last seen alive.

The officers took the footlocker to the Medical Examiner’s office where it was carefully examined. When the ropes tied around the footlocker were cut and the lid opened, there was a blanket that had several stains on it. Under the blanket was a small boy’s naked body in a “semi-fetal position.” His face was not recognizable because of decomposition, but through fingerprints the body was identified as that of Junny Rios-Martinez.

An autopsy determined that Junny had died from “mechanical asphyxia,” probably smothering or strangulation. In spite of the decomposition, signs of possible bruising around the anus were detected. One of the pieces of tape that had
been wadded up in the footlocker had Schwab’s fingerprint on it. A search of Schwab’s car led to the discovery of a receipt from a K-Mart. The receipt, dated April 18, 1991, the day Junny was abducted, showed the purchase of a footlocker......................................

The state trial court judge, after hearing all of the evidence at a bench trial and sentence hearing, rejected Schwab’s story about another man being involved
and found that Schwab had acted alone.

He found that Schwab had planned things so that the young victim left the baseball field thinking he was with a trusted friend. Once in the motel room, Schwab physically overpowered the slightly built child. He bound with duct tape the little boy’s hands, his mouth, and part of his face. He took a knife and violently cut off the child’s clothes, leaving him naked, crying, and terrified. He punched him twice in the stomach. He put a bed sheet or mattress cover over the head of the little boy who was so scared that he started to shake. Schwab anally raped him. The victim did not even have the solace of unconsciousness during the ordeal, which lasted a substantial amount of time. He continued to cry throughout, stopping only when Schwab finally strangled or smothered him to death.

A few days before his brutal abuse of eleven-year-old Junny,
Schwab had attended a group therapy session as part of the sexual offender program that was a condition of his probation. ........................................................

Dr. William R. Samek, a clinical psychologist specializing in treating sexual offenders and sexual abuse victims, testified as a rebuttal witness for the prosecution. Dr. Samek disputed Dr. Bernstein’s conclusion that Schwab’s sexual desires became “irresistible impulses” which he could not control. In Dr. Samek’s view, such impulses can be resisted “if there’s sufficient motivation to stop.” He
believed that Schwab’s known assaults showed a progression and “that [Schwab] ha[d] learned each time to do things better, more carefully and slicker.”

Dr. Samek believed that Schwab is not a pedophile but that he has “an antisocial personality disorder” and is a “rape/murderer and mentally disordered sex offender.”
As a result, Schwab “would have been more difficult to treat . . . than your average pedophile.”

Dr. Samek concluded that “it is highly unlikely that
[Schwab] could be successfully rehabilitated and be safe without a lot of controls around him.” In support of that conclusion, Dr. Samek noted that Schwab’s “offenses were very cool, calm, [and] carefully planned,” that Schwab went “well beyond what is needed to rape or even to [molest] . . . a kid,” and that Schwab “went to extreme lengths to . . . seduce . . . and charm the family.”

Dr. Samek found this last point notable because “most child molesters choose victims who are easily molestable.” He testified that Schwab’s choice of “good kids from good families who are happy” reflects “his own resentment that he didn’t have a nice family” and that Schwab “gets back” at his victims “by destroying them.” Dr. Samek also based his conclusion that Schwab is not treatable on the fact that he exhibited “a tremendous amount of remorse while in prison” but “that didn’t stop his behavior when he got
out.”

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