Bryan Frederick Jennings is an inmate in Florida who has spent more than 46 years on death row for a murder that took place in 1979. He was convicted when he was 20 years old. The evidence against him was only circumstantial and supported by unreliable testimony.

In 1989, Governor Martinez had already set an execution date, but Bryan was granted a stay of execution in order to show that his conviction was flawed. Bryan had no attorney representing him before the Florida state courts for several years until after his death warrant was signed, which violates fundamental principles of due process and respect for human life: the lack of full and fair access to legal defense is, in fact, contrary to every definition of justice and mercy.

The Governor of Florida has scheduled his execution for November 13, 2025. Only after the date was set was a “last-minute” request made for the appointment of attorneys to represent Jennings. Those attorneys filed an emergency motion seeking a stay of execution. The reasons are clear: Jennings has been without legal representation since 2022, while the State should have appointed him an attorney long ago. Doing so just one month before the execution amounts to an action aimed at denying him any meaningful defense, creating a stark imbalance in favor of the State and showing disregard for the value of human life — especially in a state that enforces the death penalty. The receiving office in turn filed an emergency motion seeking a stay of execution. The reasons are clear: Jennings has been without legal representation since 2022, while the State should have appointed him an attorney long ago. Doing so just one month before the execution amounts to an action aimed at denying him any meaningful defense, creating a stark imbalance in favor of the State and showing disregard for the value of human life — especially in a state that enforces the death penalty.

Bryan Jennings – a child in the picture – is now a nearly 67-year-old man:  kind, generous, caring, and good.  Over all these years he has undertaken an incredible inner and spiritual journey, with a steadfast determination to become a better man.

His long pen-friendship with Federica has been for him “a reason to keep going, a reason to let go of everything that people in here do every day to break me down, a reason to see my life as something worth living.” Yet the State of Florida is preparing to execute him, even though today Bryan is a completely different person from the twenty-year-old he was in 1979.

Together with the Community of Sant’Egidio, we launch an appeal to save his life. We ask for clemency for Bryan Jennings and that his life be spared.