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Starke -- A man convicted of shooting and killing a Coral Gables police officer and wounding another one 33 years ago was put to death Wednesday at Florida State Prison.

Manuel Valle, 61, was executed by lethal injection for the murder of Officer Louis Pena, who had pulled Valle over for running a red light in 1978.

Valle, strapped to the gurney in the execution chamber, chose not to make a final statement.

He did request a last meal: fried chicken breast, white rice, garlic toast, a Coca-Cola and peach cobbler. He ate most of it.

Earlier in the morning, he visited for three hours with relatives – first for two hours without any physical contact with them, and then for an hour with contact with three people: a niece, a sister and his daughter, Rebecca, who was 2 years old when Valle was arrested.

In the afternoon, Valle met with a lay Catholic chaplain.
“He is very calm,” Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said of Valle two hours before the execution.

The execution happened as scheduled. Valle had last-ditch appeals pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, but it did not rule to delay or block the execution before 4 p.m.

As the family of the condemned inmate, Valle’s relatives could not witness the execution. But some of Pena’s relatives were expected, as were current or former Coral Gables police officers.

A couple of Pena’s former Gables colleagues came to the prison Wednesday as a show of solidarity. Among them was Harry S. Pickering, a retired police lieutenant who was working on April 4, 1978, the night Pena was shot and killed.

“I am glad this day is finally here,” said Pickering, who described Pena as “a fine man and a superb officer.”

Though some protesters had been expected across the street from the prison,as is typical before executions, none had shown up a few hours before it was scheduled to take place.

Valle was the first Florida inmate executed using pentobarbital as part of the lethal injection. The state changed its drug protocol earlier this year to include the sedative, which is intended to knock the inmate unconscious.

Two more drugs paralyze him and then stop his heart.

Florida used to use a different anesthetic, sodium thiopental, in its lethalinjections. But the company that made the drug discontinued its production because it did not want the drug used for executions.

The Danish manufacturer of pentobarbital, Lundbeck, has also asked Florida to refrain from using its product in lethal injections.

State authorities are preparing to execute cop killer Manuel Valle at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Valle shot and killed Coral Gables Police Officer Louis Pena after a routine traffic stop in 1978. He will be the first inmate executed in Florida using pentobarbital as part of the three drugs in lethal injections.

For the past three months, Valle’s state-appointed lawyers have fought to keep their client in prison and spare him the death penalty.

On Wednesday, Valle, 61, ate most of his last meal and took a shower. He said he is not planning on making a final statement, although that could change. He met with a chaplain and is now on "Death Watch," in a single cell at Florida State Prison.

Before the execution, the warden will offer to read the death warrant to him. He will then be strapped to the gurney in the execution chamber.

Valle's family cannot witness the execution because the families of the inmate are generally not allowed in the witness chamber. Some of Pena's relatives are expected, though it is still unclear how many or who they will be.

In an earlier interview with The Miami Herald, Jeneane Skeen, one of Pena’s daughters, said: “We’re tired of waiting. We want my father’s justice to be done. He gave his life doing his job.”