NATION : 1977 Florida Slayer Executed

STARKE, Fla. — Raymond Robert Clark was executed in Florida’s electric chair today for the 1977 slaying of a businessman who was forced to write a $5,000 check at gunpoint, then was shot to death.

Clark, 49, died at 7:07 a.m. as a handful of death-penalty protesters and several proponents gathered outside the fog-shrouded Florida State Prison. He did not make a final statement. Among the two dozen witnesses was Gregory Drake, 38, the victim’s son. Clark was convicted and sentenced to death for the April 27, 1977, murder of David Drake. Clark and his male lover abducted Drake in a St. Petersburg bank, drove him to a secluded area and ordered him to write a $5,000 check payable to cash. Clark then shot the businessman twice in the head.