{{Short description|American murderer (1942–2000)}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox criminal | name = Terry Melvin Sims | image = Terry M. Sims.jpg | image_size = | caption = | alias = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1942|2|5}} | birth_place = United States | death_date = {{death date and age|2000|2|23|1942|2|5}} | death_place = Florida State Prison, Florida, U.S. | victims = 1 | country = United States | states = Florida | date = December 29, 1977 | apprehended = June 25, 1978 | criminal_penalty = Death | criminal_status = Executed by lethal injection | conviction = First degree murder | motive = To avoid arrest }} '''Terry Melvin Sims''' (February 5, 1942 – February 23, 2000)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Inmate Release Information Detail |url=http://www.dc.state.fl.us/offenderSearch/detail.aspx?Page=Detail&DCNumber=032827&TypeSearch=IR|access-date=March 12, 2022|website=Florida Department of Corrections}}</ref> was an American convicted murderer who was executed by the state of Florida for fatally shooting a sheriff's deputy in Longwood, Florida.<ref name="Sims1">{{Cite web|title=Terry Melvin Sims #614|url=http://clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/sims614.htm#:~:text=%28February%2023%2C%202000%29%20STARKE%2C%20Fla.%20%28AP%29%20--%20Florida,Sims%2C%2058%2C%20was%20pronounced%20dead%20at%207%3A10%20a.m.|access-date=March 12, 2022|website=www.clarkprosecutor.org}}</ref> He was the first Florida inmate executed with the use of lethal injection, after the previous execution, which was conducted under the electric chair, had been seriously botched.<ref name="Sims2">{{cite news|title=Florida's First Lethal Injection |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/floridas-first-lethal-injection/ |access-date=March 12, 2022 |work=CBS News |date=February 23, 2000}}</ref>
== Crime == On December 29, 1977, Sims along with three accomplices, James "B.B." Halsell, Curtis Baldree, and Clarence Eugene Robinson, committed a robbery at the Longwood Village Pharmacy in Longwood, Florida.<ref name="Sims1"/> Sims and Baldree entered the building, while Halsell and Robinson waited in the getaway car. Baldree went toward the back of the store to rob the pharmacist, while Sims watched the front door. They ordered the customers to enter the bathroom.
At the same time, 57-year-old former U.S. Marine Corps marine and World War II veteran George Pfeil, a retired New York City officer and the Seminole County reserve deputy sheriff, entered the store. When he saw that the place was being robbed, Pfeil and Sims began exchanging gunfire at one another.<ref name="Sims3">{{cite news|title=DEPUTY'S KILLER WILL BE THE FIRST TO BE EXECUTED BY LETHAL INJECTION |url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2000-01-29-0001281117-story.html |access-date=March 12, 2022 |work=Sun-Sentinel |date=January 29, 2000}}</ref> Pfeil was shot twice, both wounds being fatal. Sims was shot once but managed to flee the scene. Sims fled the state of Florida not long after, taking refuge in California. There, in June 1978, he was arrested after a failed robbery.<ref name="Sims1"/>
== Trial == Sims was extradited to Florida to stand trial. At the trial, Halsell and Baldree testified that after Pfeil's murder, Sims bragged that he had "killed him with one bullet".<ref name="Sims1"/> Robinson was not present at the trial as he was not caught yet. In the end, Sims was found guilty of first degree murder and was sentenced to death. Baldree and Halsell were both convicted of their roles in the robbery and were both given two-year prison terms. Baldree and Halsell were eventually released, but were murdered in 1981 and 1982, respectively, allegedly by Robinson.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1983-06-07 |title=Suspected triple murderer Clarence Eugene Robinson, who allegedly wounded... - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/07/Suspected-triple-murderer-Clarence-Eugene-Robinson-who-allegedly-wounded/5470423806400/ |access-date=2025-07-10 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref> Robinson's whereabouts were discovered and he was arrested on June 8, 1983, when he was identified for shooting and seriously wounding two FBI agents, Thomas Sobolewski and Dennis Wicklein, five days earlier.<ref name="Sims1"/> Robinson was never tried for murder due to insufficient evidence, but was convicted in federal court for these shootings and sentenced to 30 years in prison.<ref>{{Cite web |last=By |date=1999-10-23 |title=DEATH-ROW INMATE TO MAKE 11TH-HOUR APPEAL |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1999/10/23/death-row-inmate-to-make-11th-hour-appeal/ |access-date=2025-07-10 |website=Orlando Sentinel |language=en-US}}</ref> Robinson was released from prison in 2005, but was sentenced to 9 years and seven months in prison in 2009 for drug and firearm charges. He was released again on February 7, 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inmate Locator |url=https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/ |access-date=2025-07-10 |website=www.bop.gov}}</ref>
== Execution == In 1999, convicted killer Allen Lee Davis was put to the death by Florida by the routine method of the electric chair. During his execution, blood began rapidly pouring out of his nose, and witnesses reported that Davis was still alive after the electrocution stopped.<ref name="Sims4">{{cite news|title=Florida's Messy Executions Put the Electric Chair on Trial |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/18/us/florida-s-messy-executions-put-the-electric-chair-on-trial.html |access-date=March 12, 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=November 18, 1999}}</ref> The execution was considered by some to have been botched, and this prompted the United States Supreme Court to challenge the use of Florida's electric chair, temporarily halting all executions in the state.<ref name="Sims1"/> By this time, the vast majority of the other U.S. states had converted their execution method to lethal injection, prompting Florida to do the same.
Sims, who had spent over 20-years on death row, was scheduled to be executed on November 2, 1999. However, a judge awarded Sims a stay of execution, rescheduling it to February 23 the next year.<ref name="Sims5">{{cite news|title=COP KILLER WINS STAY OF EXECUTION |url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1999-10-26-9910250561-story.html |access-date=March 12, 2022 |work=Sun-Sentinel |date=October 26, 1999}}</ref> A week before his scheduled execution, Sims challenged the use of lethal injection, but his appeals were denied. On February 23, Sims was executed with the injection method, becoming the first person to be executed with it in Florida.<ref name="Sims2"/><ref name="Sims6">{{cite news|title=SIMS DIES QUIETLY STATE EXECUTES COP KILLER WITH INJECTION |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-2000-02-24-0002240056-story.html |access-date=March 12, 2022 |work=Sun-Sentinel |date=February 24, 2000}}</ref><ref name="Sims7">{{cite news|title=SIMS PUT TO DEATH PROFESSING HIS INNOCENCE IN '77 MURDER |url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2000-02-24-0002231073-story.html |access-date=March 12, 2022 |work=Sun-Sentinel |date=February 24, 2000}}</ref> His final words were "I love my family. I love all my friends and my rabbi."<ref name="Sims6"/> Since his execution, all other executions in Florida have been performed by lethal injection, although inmates can still choose to be executed by the electric chair.<ref name="Davis8">{{cite news|title=Death row inmate requests electric chair, Florida law may make it possible |url=https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local-news/death-row-inmate-requests-electric-chair-florida-law-may-make-it-possible |access-date=March 12, 2022 |work=WFTS-TV|date=July 15, 2017}}</ref> == See also == * List of people executed by lethal injection * List of people executed in Florida * List of people executed in the United States in 2000
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{s-start}} ! colspan="3" | Executions carried out in Florida {{s-bef|before=Allen Lee Davis|before2=<div style="font-weight: normal">July 8, 1999</div>}} {{s-ttl|title=Terry Melvin Sims|years=February 23, 2000}} {{s-aft|after=Anthony Bryan|after2=<div style="font-weight: normal">February 24, 2000</div>}} |- ! colspan="3" | Executions carried out in the United States {{s-bef|before=Cornelius Goss – Texas|before2=<div style="font-weight: normal">February 23, 2000</div>}} {{s-ttl|title=Terry Melvin Sims – Florida|years=February 23, 2000}} {{s-aft|after=Anthony Bryan – Florida|after2=<div style="font-weight: normal">February 24, 2000</div>}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sims, Terry M.}} Category:1942 births Category:2000 deaths Category:20th-century American murderers Category:20th-century executions by Florida Category:20th-century executions of American people Category:20th-century American Jews Category:American male criminals Category:American robbers Category:American people executed for murdering police officers Category:Executed people from Florida Category:Male murderers Category:People convicted of murder by Florida Category:People executed by Florida by lethal injection