In the moments before he was executed, a Florida man made an apology to his murder victim’s family.

Darryl B. Barwick was jailed for breaking into Rebecca Wendt’s Panama City apartment and stabbing her to death on March 31, 1986.

He had watched the 24-year-old sunbathing outside and then followed her back to her room.

Barwick said he intended to rob Wendt but then killed her as she resisted, stabbing her 37 times as she tried to fight him off.

It was a crime committed months after he was released from prison for a rape.

Barwick, 56, was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m. Wednesday following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied the inmate’s final appeal for a stay of execution earlier in the day.

After being brought into the death camber, Barwick said, ‘I can’t explain why I did what I did. It’s time to apologize to the family … I’m sorry.’

He then claimed that the state needs to show more compassion and kindness for people, going on to criticize Florida’s sentencing of teenagers to life in prison.

Barwick began receiving the sedative at 6:02 p.m. and closed his eyes several minutes later.

The warden checked Barwick’s eyes, shook his shoulders and yelled his name to make sure he was unconscious before the execution continued.

Barwick had been convicted of first-degree murder, armed burglary, attempted sexual battery and armed robbery in November 1986, and sentenced to death two months later on the jury’s 9-3 recommendation.

The Florida Supreme Court threw out that conviction in 1989 because of prosecutorial misconduct.

Barwick was again convicted at his 1992 retrial, and that jury unanimously recommended death.

He killed Wendt less than three months after he was released from prison for raping a 21-year-old woman at knifepoint, according to court records.

In his confession for Wendt’s killing, Barwick said he stabbed her because he did not want to go back to prison.

DeSantis signed Barwick’s death warrant last month.

It was the third execution conducted in Florida this year after a hiatus dating back to 2019. It also was the state’s 102nd execution since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.

Last month, a death row inmate dubbed the ‘ninja killer’ after murdering a couple during a break-in was executed in the state.

Louis Bernard Gaskin, 56, shot Robert, 56, and Georgette Sturmfels, 55, with a .22-caliber rifle after entering their home in Flagler County on December 20, 1989.

He made off with a clock, two lamps and a videocassette recorder which were all later found at his home, intended as Christmas presents for his girlfriend.

Gaskin wore all-black ninja clothing during his crimes.

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