Tuesday, August 31, 1999
Fred Lewis Way v. State of Florida

No. 78,640

Place of Origin
St. Johns County
Facts
Way was convicted and sentenced to death for the July 1983 murders of his wife and daughter, whose bodies were recovered from the burned garage of their home. Both victims had blunt trauma wounds and burns over 100 percent of their bodies. Way now challenges his sentence based on new evidence allegedly showing that the fire was accidentally ignited in an explosion that also caused the victims' blunt trauma injuries. The State contends this theory is inconsistent with the known facts and evidence of the deaths.