Tallahassee, FL - A Florida death row inmate is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to postpone his execution while judges consider his request for DNA testing in a 1996 murder case.
Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., 72, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday, September 10th, for killing Richard Montgomery in Charlotte County.
Conahan was convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping in 1999 before receiving a death sentence.
Montgomery’s nude and mutilated body was discovered in April 1996 in a wooded Charlotte County area reportedly used for illegal dumping.
Prosecutors said Conahan allegedly offered Montgomery money to pose for nude photographs before restraining and strangling him.
Investigators have suspected Conahan of involvement in other Southwest Florida homicides committed during the 1990s.
However, he was not convicted in those cases, and his scheduled execution is based only on Montgomery’s murder.
Conahan has continued to deny killing Montgomery.
His attorneys began seeking DNA analysis in January 2025 on evidence recovered from the crime scene and Montgomery’s body.
They argue that current testing methods could produce information supporting Conahan’s innocence claim.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Conahan’s death warrant August 11th while the DNA request remained pending.
The state post-conviction court denied the testing motion the following day.
The Florida Supreme Court upheld that decision September 3rd, rejected additional post-conviction arguments and declined to stop the execution.
Conahan’s attorneys are not currently asking the nation’s highest court to release him or declare him innocent.
Their filing requests a temporary stay so the justices can evaluate whether his DNA testing claims received adequate judicial review before Florida carries out the sentence.