Shooting victim watches convicted Florida killer die

STARKE, Fla. (AP) -- Sixteen years after a bullet fired by Thomas Provenzano left him paralyzed, Mark Parker watched the convicted killer die for killing a bailiff in a shootout in an Orlando courtroom.

''He looked scared, pretty damned scared,'' said Parker, who watched Provenzano's execution Wednesday from his wheelchair. ''I knew he could tell he wasn't going to get out of this one. I saw fear in his face.''

Parker, 36, was one of three bailiffs shot in 1984, when Provenzano entered the courtroom concealing three guns in his camouflage coat.

Parker and another bailiff, Harry Dalton, 53, were paralyzed; Dalton died seven years later. Provenzano, 51, was sentenced to death for the murder of William ''Arnie'' Wilkerson, 60.

Provenzano was scheduled to die Tuesday but won a reprieve 11 minutes before he was to be executed. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, which gave no reason for granting the stay, lifted it Wednesday morning, and Gov. Jeb Bush rescheduled the execution.

In Virginia, a death row inmate won a reprieve Wednesday night from the U.S. Supreme Court about 75 minutes before he was scheduled to die.