- “Norman was a man who chose to die tonight. He was also a man who begged for help long before he committed the crime that ended Cynthia Campbell’s life.” – Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP)
By Vanguard Staff
TALLAHASSEE, FL – The State of Florida executed Norman Mearle Grim, Jr., 65, on Tuesday night for the 1998 killing of Cynthia Campbell. It was the 15th execution in Florida this year, marking an all-time record.
Grim, a U.S. Navy veteran who served four years before being discharged “Under Other Than Honorable Conditions,” became the fifth veteran executed in Florida in 2025. His photo was released by the Florida Department of Corrections.
Shortly after Governor Ron DeSantis signed Grim’s death warrant, Grim waived all postconviction claims related to his execution. The last person to do so was James Barnes, executed in July 2023.
This was the 22nd execution carried out under Gov. DeSantis—surpassing the total under former Gov. Jeb Bush, who oversaw 21 executions during his eight years in office. Gov. Rick Scott oversaw 28 executions during his two terms, the most of any Florida governor.
In a statement, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) said, “Tonight, we the people of the State of Florida executed our fifth veteran this year, Norman Mearle Grim, Jr., who served in the United States Navy for four years.
“Norman was a man who chose to die tonight. He was also a man who begged for help long before he committed the crime that ended Cynthia Campbell’s life,” the statement continued. “After his arrest, he told his trial lawyers not to present any mitigating evidence or give his jury any reason to spare his life. Norman waived his final appeals. He believed he wasn’t worth saving. And instead of meeting that despair with care, the State of Florida met it with a needle.”
FADP described Grim’s life as “shaped by the effects of multigenerational violence,” recounting severe childhood abuse by his father, a Navy officer, and the failure of religious and social institutions to intervene.
“He started drinking at 13 just to numb it all. At 19, he enlisted in the Navy, trying to prove himself in the only way he knew how. But the stress of military life did not help his addiction,” the group stated.
According to FADP, Grim later sought counseling and medication, telling his doctor before the killing that his life was “falling apart.”
“Governor Ron DeSantis signed Norman’s death warrant knowing he had no state-appointed lawyer,” the statement read. “His brand-new state counsel wasn’t appointed until four days after his warrant was signed — given mere days to meet Norman for the first time, review decades of records, and advise him about a complex legal process while the state raced him to the execution chamber. Unsurprisingly, Norman had no fight left. This was a constitutional and moral collapse.”
FADP concluded, “Norman’s crime was tragic. So was the lifetime of trauma and mental illness that led him there. And the shameful endcap is what Florida did tonight — killing a broken man who had already given up on living.”
“This is what happens when a government loses its conscience. When mercy is replaced with machinery. When killing becomes routine and our leaders tout the body count as an achievement,” the statement said. “Tonight, we grieve for Cynthia Campbell, for Norman Grim, for their families, and for a state that keeps inflicting violence under the guise of justice. History will remember this cruelty. And so will we.”
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