July 2021 | My Crime Library

Michael Lambrix Florida Execution

Michael Lambrix was executed by the State of Florida for a double murder committed in 1983. According to court documents Michael Lambrix invited the two victims over to his home and proceeded to murder them. Michael Lambrix claimed that Clarence Moore murdered Aleisha Bryant and that Lambrix murdered Moore in self defense. Michael Lambrix would be executed by lethal injection on October 6, 2017

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After three rescheduled execution dates, Michael Ray Lambrix, also known as Cary Lambrix, was executed Thursday at the Florida State Prison near Starke.

Lambrix, 57, was killed by lethal injection at 10:10 p.m., 15 minutes after the process began. The execution was scheduled to take place at 6 p.m. but was delayed due to a last-minute appeal Lambrix filed to the United States Supreme Court earlier this week.

In 1983, Lambrix killed Clarence Moore with a tire iron and strangled Aleisha Bryant after inviting them over to his place for a spaghetti dinner in Glades County. In 1984, a jury convicted him on two counts of first-degree murder and voted in favor of the death penalty by counts of 8-4 on Moore’s behalf and 10-2 on Bryant’s.

Since then, Lambrix filed several state and federal appeals to review evidence and testimonies against his case. This resulted in the delay of two scheduled executions in 1988.

In January 2016, his execution was halted once again as the U.S. Supreme Court deliberated whether Lambrix’s execution was unconstitutional based on Hurst v. Florida, which ruled that a jury, not a judge, must find the facts of a case necessary to impose a death sentence. The court said the ruling was irrelevant to Lambrix’s case, which had already been decided decades earlier.

In 2017, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that death sentences must be declared by a unanimous jury of 12.

Lambrix held a group interview with the press Tuesday in which he said he was innocent and used self-defense against Moore, who assaulted and killed Bryant the night of the dinner party. He also the case rested solely on the “deliberately fabricated” witness testimony of his girlfriend at the time, Frances Smith.

“It won’t be an execution,” Lambrix said. “This is going to be an act of cold-blooded murder.”

Lambrix’s last meal was a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and caramel ice cream, which his mother promised to make for him if he were released.

Seventeen people, including five members of the media, witnessed the execution. Bryant’s sister is the only victim family member known to have attended but did not wish to speak with media.

One witness said Lambrix recited the Lord’s Prayer as his final statement and that his mouth opened then closed and his chest shook momentarily during the process. A doctor arrived to confirm his heart had stopped.

About 40 protestors from the Lady of Lords Catholic Church in Daytona Beach gathered outside the prison before the execution to pray for Lambrix’s appeal to be approved.

Miriam Elliot, of Daytona Beach, said Lambrix was innocent of any wrongdoing.

“I really don’t think we should be killing people who acted in self-defense,” she said.

A public information officer said, “the execution took place without incident” at a press conference following the event.

Lambrix is survived by his father, mother, three children and seven grandchildren.

This was the 24th execution carried out under Gov. Rick Scott, the most of any Florida governor. An emailed statement from the executive office of the governor said signing death warrants is one of the Governor’s most solemn duties.

“The Governor’s top concern is always with the families of the victims of these horrible crimes,” the office wrote.

Since 1976, the state of Florida has executed 94 inmates total. There are currently 357 inmates on death row.

https://www.wuft.org/news/2017/10/06/michael-lambrix-executed-after-33-years-on-floridas-death-row/

Gary Otte Ohio Execution

Gary Otte was executed by the State of Ohio for a double murder. According to court documents Gary Otte would shoot and kill two people, Robert Wasikowski, 61, and Sharon Kostura, 45, at a Ohio housing complex. Gary Otte would be executed by lethal injection on September 13, 2017

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The state of Ohio executed Gary Otte on Wednesday morning, more than 25 years after he robbed and murdered two people at a Parma apartment complex.

Otte, 45, of Terre Haute, Indiana died at 10:54 a.m. by lethal injection in the state’s “death house” at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. There appeared to be no complications with the execution, which took about 15 minutes to complete.

Prison officials strapped the heavyset, balding and goateed Otte to a gurney, with his head in full view of the families of his victims. Otte’s stomach moved up and down for a few minutes as the execution team began its series of three injections.

He stopped moving at about 10:44 a.m.

He laid still for another eight minutes before a member of the execution team walked in and checked his heartbeat. The coroner then entered the chamber and Otte was pronounced dead two minutes later.

Otte was convicted in 1992 and sentenced to death for robbing and killing Robert Wasikowski, 61, and Sharon Kostura, 45, at a Parma apartment complex in February of that year.

The victims’ family members sat in the viewing area to watch as Otte took his final breaths. Otte’s witnesses were his attorneys, spiritual advisers and a nurse.

The reactions of the victims’ family members, which included Wasikowski’s daughter and brother and Kostura’s sister, brother-in-law and niece, were mostly muted. Wasikowski’s daughter shook through much of the execution and appeared concerned as she was first led to her seat that Otte could see her in his final moments.

As a last statement, Otte gave a thumbs up to his witnesses and said, “I’d like to profess my love for my family,” who visited him at the prison on Tuesday and Wednesday but did not witness his execution.

He then said “I’m sorry” to the victims’ families.

Otte then sang three verses of the gospel song “The Greatest Thing” and closed with a Bible verse: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing. Amen.”

Wasikowski and Kostura’s family members did not make a statement following the execution.

Otte spent Tuesday evening visiting with his loved ones and his attorneys, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said. He did not sleep and spent the night on the phone, talking with friends. His mood was described as emotional, but he was also in good spirits, Smith said.

He was served his last meal of burgers, fried food, ice cream and donuts on Tuesday evening, after visits by his parents and his attorneys. Around midnight, prison guards removed his cheese sticks, string cheese and ice cream, which were all part of his requested special meal, Smith said.

On Wednesday morning, he again visited with his parents and prayed, Smith said, giving them a hug through prison bars one last time. He met with his spiritual advisers, again with his attorneys and talked with a friend on the phone. He also sang.

Otte took a shower before his execution but did not eat the breakfast served to him.

Like many inmates before him, Otte and his supporters tried their hardest to halt his execution. He waged a series of legal challenges to Ohio’s methods of execution and death penalty statute. All were denied, with the latest ruling coming by the Ohio Supreme Court less than two hours before his death.

The Ohio Parole Board and Gov. John Kasich rejected Otte’s arguments that his life should be spared because he was repeatedly bullied as a child. That bullying led to drug and alcohol use and depression, which led him to commit his crimes, his lawyers argued.

The parole board said in February that Otte had a good upbringing with a loving family.

Meanwhile, opponents of the death penalty implored Gov. John Kasich and the state in the days and hours leading up to Otte’s execution to intervene and call it off.

An attorney for Otte later said his stomach movements and the appearance of tears by his eyes during the execution showed that Otte was in pain after being injected with a sedative. The attorney is part of a team challenging the state’s use of the sedative, called midazolam, saying it doesn’t render a patient sufficiently unconscious as to not feel severe pain.

Otte was the 55th person the state has executed since it restarted the death penalty in 1999.

Otte, in a letter to Splinter News, blamed the actions that led to his imprisonment and fate on a crack cocaine addiction.

“I took personal responsibility for my life and became accountable for my future actions,” Otte wrote in his letter. “I’ve become a new person through this life giving application. The fears I once operated from have vanished through my reliance on God for all my support.

“I am no longer defined by my past failures, but by God’s love.”

Otte is the second death row inmate the state has executed this year. Akron child killer Ronald Phillips died by lethal injection in July. Phillips’ execution came after the state stopped putting inmates to death for more than two-and-a-half years, after the execution team had problems as inmate Dennis McGuire died in January 2014.

https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2017/09/parma_murderer_gary_otte_dies.html

Mark Asay Florida Execution

Mark Asay was executed by the State of Florida for a murder that took place in 1987. According to court documents Mark Asay would shoot and kill Robert Lee Booker and during the same year would shoot and kill Robert McDowell. Mark Asay would be the first white person in Florida history who was executed for the murder of a black man. Mark Asay would be executed by lethal injection on August 24 2017

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Florida on Thursday put a man to death with an anesthetic never used before in a U.S. lethal injection, carrying out its first execution in more than 18 months on an inmate convicted of two racially motivated murders.

Authorities said 53-year-old Mark Asay, the first white man executed in Florida for the killing of a black man, was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m. Thursday at the state prison in Starke. Asay received a three-drug injection that began with the new anesthetic, etomidate.

Though approved by the Florida Supreme Court, etomidate has been criticized by some as being unproven in an execution. Etomidate replaced midazolam, which became harder to acquire after many drug companies began refusing to provide it for executions.

Prosecutors say Asay made racist comments in the 1987 fatal shooting of a 34-year-old black man, Robert Lee Booker. Asay also was convicted of the 1987 murder of 26-year-old Robert McDowell, who was mixed race, white and Hispanic.

Asay had hired McDowell, who was dressed as a woman, as a prostitute, and killed him after learning his true gender, prosecutors said.

Asay was asked whether he wanted to make a final statement. “No sir, I do not. Thank you,” he replied.

The execution protocol began at 6:10 p.m. About a minute after the first drug was administered, Asay’s feet jerked slightly and his mouth opened. A minute or two later he was motionless and subsequently was pronounced dead by a doctor.

The execution was Florida’s first since the U.S. Supreme Court halted the practice in the state after finding its method for sentencing people to death to be unconstitutional. The high court earlier Thursday had rejected Asay’s final appeal without comment.

Michelle Glady, a spokeswoman for the corrections department, said there was no complication in the procedure and that Asay did not speak during it.

Asay was the first white man to be executed in Florida for killing a black man. At least 20 black men have been executed for killing white victims since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1976, according to data from the Death Penalty Information Center. A total of 92 Florida inmates had been executed previously in that time period.

The inmate’s spiritual adviser, Norman Smith of Cavalry Chapel in Melbourne, spent two hours with Asay before his execution. He said Asay admitted spouting racial epithets before Booker’s murder, but said he was drunk and angry, not a racist.

“Until I heard that I would’ve never known that this man was tagged as a racist,” said Smith, who is black. Asay, he said, was ready and not conflicted as the execution hour approached.

Etomidate is the first of three drugs administered in Florida’s new execution mixture. It is replacing midazolam, which has been harder to acquire after many drug companies began refusing to provide it for executions.

The etomidate is followed by rocuronium bromide, a paralytic, and finally, potassium acetate, which stops the heart. It is Florida’s first time using potassium acetate too, which was used in a 2015 execution in Oklahoma by mistake, but has not been used elsewhere, a death penalty expert said.

While the state’s high court has approved the use of etomidate, some experts have criticized the drug as being unproven.

State corrections officials have defended the choice, saying it has been reviewed. The corrections department refused to answer questions from The Associated Press about how it chose etomidate.

Doctors hired by Asay’s attorneys raised questions about etomidate in court declarations, saying there are cases where it had caused pain along with involuntary writhing in patients.

But in its opinion allowing the drug to be used, the state’s high court said earlier this month that four expert witnesses demonstrated that Asay “is at small risk of mild to moderate pain.”

Executions in Florida were put on hold for 18 months after the Supreme Court ruled that the old system was unconstitutional because it gave judges, not juries, the power to decide.

Since then, Florida’s Legislature passed a law requiring a unanimous jury for death penalty recommendations.

In Asay’s case, jurors recommended death for both murder counts by a 9-3 vote. Even though the new law requires unanimity, Florida’s high court ruled that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling did not apply to older cases.

Asay was the 24th inmate executed since Gov. Rick Scott has taken office, the most under any governor in Florida history.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/florida/fl-reg-florida-execution-asay-20170824-story.html

TaiChin Preyor Texas Execution

TaiChin Preyor was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of a man during a robbery. According to court documents TaiChin Preyor would stab to death Jami Tackett during a drug deal gone bad. TaiChin Preyor attempted to get his death sentence overturned due to his lawyers using Wikipedia and relying on a disbarred lawyer to fight his case. TaiChin Preyor would be executed by lethal injection on July 27 2017

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The state of Texas executed TaiChin Preyor on Thursday night after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a last-minute appeal.

Preyor, 46, was put to death by lethal injection at a state corrections unit in Huntsville in the fatal stabbing of Jami Tackett during a drug-related robbery in 2004, The Associated Press reported. He claimed he acted in self-defense but was convicted of capital murder.

Preyor had argued that a previous attorney collaborated with a disbarred lawyer, relied on Wikipedia and double-billed his family and the court.

The attorney who handled Preyor’s initial appeal was a real-estate specialist from Beverly Hills, Calif., who partnered with a man who had been disbarred for incompetence 15 years earlier — without informing the court, Preyor said in his latest motions.

“The federal habeas petition the duo filed in the District Court was so facially inadequate that it subsequently became its own ironic meme, circulated among habeas attorneys as an example of what not to do,” Preyor’s eleventh-hour appeal argued.

The California attorney had never appeared in a case in Texas state court, and a 2014 printout in her files showed that she did not do research about the death penalty in Texas until it was too late.

“It appears she relied on Wikpedia, of all things, to learn the complex ins and outs of Texas capital-punishment law,” the motion reads.

“Her files included a copy of the Wikipedia page titled, ‘Capital punishment in Texas,’ with a post-it note stating ‘Research’ next to highlighted passages of ‘habeas corpus appeals’ and ‘subsequent or successive writ applications.'”

Preyor’s mother paid the duo $45,000 for their services, but the lawyer also billed the court for representing Preyor, the motion said.

“Preyor cannot be bound by the acts of two incompetent charlatans,” the new lawyers wrote in their Supreme Court petition. The previous attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

In its response to Preyor’s appeal, the state said the inmate failed to show that what his ex-lawyer did “amounts to fraud on the court.” The state also said Preyor had waited too long to make his claim, which was filed two weeks before his execution.

In another brief, the state said Preyor’s appeal “highlights a disturbing pattern of behavior he has exhibited for years: obtaining counsel, becoming dissatisfied with counsel’s performance, and acquiring new counsel who then complains about former counsel’s representation.”

Asked by the prison warden Thursday night whether he had a final statement, Preyor replied: “First and foremost, I’d like to say: Justice has never advanced by taking a human life,” according to the AP. Then he said he would love his wife and children “forever and always.”

“That’s it,” Preyor said.

As the lethal dose of pentobarbital began taking effect, he took several deep breaths, then began snoring, each sound decreasing in volume. Within a minute, all movement stopped.

He was pronounced dead 19 minutes later

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/lethal-injection/taichin-preyor-tries-stop-execution-says-lawyer-used-wikipedia-n787106

Ronald Phillips Ohio Execution

Ronald Phillips was executed by the State of Ohio for the rape and murder of a three year old girl. According to court documents Ronald Phillips would repeatedly sexually abuse and beat the three year old girl who was the daughter of his girlfriend Fae Evans. Eventually three year old Sheila Evans would die from her injuries. The three year old’s mother Fae Evans would be sentenced to thirty years in prison for allowing the abuse to happen and would die in prison of leukemia in 2008. Ronald Phillips would be executed by lethal injection on July 26 2017

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After a three-year break, Ohio resumed executions on Wednesday by giving a lethal injection to Ronald Phillips, who was convicted of raping and beating to death his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter.

Phillips, 43, whose execution had been postponed six times, was killed with a three-drug formula that has become popular with states struggling to obtain execution chemicals.

It includes a sedative that has been featured in several other executions that did not go as planned, though there were no reports of complications in Phillips’ case. Media witnesses said it was far different than Ohio’s last execution, in which the inmate gasped and heaved and took 26 minutes to die.

“It was too easy,” Renee Mundell, half-sister of victim Sheila Marie Evans, told reporters after Phillips was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m.

Phillips apologized to Sheila Marie’s family for his “evil actions,” according to NBC affiliate WKYC, which had a reporter in the witness room

“All those years, I prayed you’d forgive me and find it in your heart to forgive and have mercy on me. Sheila Marie did not deserve what I did to her. I know she is with the Lord and she suffers no more,” he said.

Phillips’ attorneys said in a statement that while he committed an “unspeakable crime” in 1993, at the time of his death he “did not in any way resemble that troubled and broken teen.”

“He had grown to be a good man, who was thoughtful, caring, compassionate, remorseful, and reflective. He tried every day to atone for his shameful role in Sheila’s death. In the past years, Ron has studied for and earned his certification to be a minister, and was preparing his first sermon.

“Ron’s case suggests we should thoughtfully reconsider our laws that permit the harshest punishment for those who committed their crimes as teenagers, especially the irrevocable punishment of death.”

Phillips spent the night before the execution in prayer, officials said. He saved unleavened bread from his last meal of pizza and cheesecake and used it as communion shortly before the execution.

The execution was witnessed by Sheila Marie’s half-sister and two other relatives. The little girl’s mother, Fae Evans, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and died of cancer in 2008. Phillips’ brother was also present, and the execution was briefly delayed so they could meet.

Ohio’s last execution was in January 2014 when murderer Dennis McGuire appeared to struggle for breath and took far longer to die than usual after being given an untested combination of drugs.

After his family sued, the state abandoned that protocol. It switched to the three-drug injection last year, but Phillips’ execution was held up when a federal judge ruled that one of the components, the sedative midazolam, might contribute to a cruelly painful death.

An appeals court overturned that decision, and the U.S. Supreme Court turned down Phillips’ request for a stay of execution late Tuesday, paving the way for his lethal injection hours later.

Phillips would have been executed in 2014 but Gov. John Kasich granted him a temporary reprieve to consider whether he should be allowed to donate his organs to relatives. Instead, the state executed McGuire next.

Ohio has planned executions for 26 inmates, stretching all the way to 2020, though some of those are sure to be postponed. The next one to face the needle is Gary Otte, scheduled to die Sept. 13.

Executions hit a historic low last year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment. Phillips was the 15th prisoner executed this year

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/lethal-injection/ronald-phillips-executed-ohio-ending-three-year-break-n786676