Enoch Hall was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for a prison murder. According to court documents Enoch Hall would stab to death Corrections Officer Donna Fitzgerald at the Tomoka Correctional Institution. Enoch Hall was convicted and sentenced to death
On July 10, 2008, Enoch Hall was indicted by the grand jury for the murder of Florida Department of Corrections Officer Donna Fitzgerald. Hall was an inmate at [Tomoka Correctional Institution (TCI) ], who worked as a welder in the Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises, Inc. (PRIDE) compound where inmates work refurbishing vehicles. Sergeant Suzanne Webster was working as the TCI control room supervisor, where she was responsible for getting a count from all areas of the prison as to the number of inmates in each area. When Webster had not heard from Fitzgerald, who was working in the PRIDE compound that night, Webster radioed Officer Chad Weber, who went to the PRIDE facility with Sergeant Bruce MacNeil to search for Fitzgerald. Weber saw Hall run through an open door on the other end of one of the PRIDE buildings and Weber and MacNeil pursued Hall. Weber caught up to Hall, who repeatedly stated “I freaked out. I snapped. I killed her.” Hall responded to Weber’s commands and placed his hands on the wall and was handcuffed. Weber took possession of the PRIDE keys that Hall had in his hands. Officer Chad Birch shouted from inside the building, “Officer down!” and Hall remained outside with other officers while Captain Shannon Wiggins and Officers Weber and MacNeil entered the building and located Fitzgerald’s body. Fitzgerald’s body was found lying face down on top of a cart in the paint room. The upper part of her body was wrapped in gray wool blankets, and the bottom half of her body came over the back of the cart, with her pants and underwear pulled down to her knees. Inside a bucket of water that was on the floor next to Fitzgerald’s legs was Hall’s bloody T-shirt. Hall was escorted to the medical facility (MTC) of the prison by Officers Brian Dickerson and Gary Schweit. Several officers took turns watching Hall while he sat in the MTC. Hall was later escorted to a conference room to talk with investigators from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and then to a cell. Hall gave three statements to FDLE agents throughout the night regarding the events of the murder.
Thomas Fletcher was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for a prison murder. According to court documents Thomas Fletcher would beat to death his cellmate Kenneth Jeff Davis at the Blackwater River Correctional Institute. Thomas Fletcher would be convicted and sentenced to death
An inmate at Blackwater River Correctional Facility in Santa Rosa County has been sentenced to death for murdering his cellmate.
Thomas Fletcher killed his cellmate, 33-year old Kenneth Jeff Davis, on September 22, 2018, by choking him from behind while inside their prison cell.
“He confessed to the crime and admitted that he committed the murder in order to be sentenced to the death penalty,” State Attorney Bill Eddins said. “Fletcher pled guilty to the murder but could not waive an evidentiary hearing on whether the death penalty should be imposed.”
Judge Scott Duncan imposed the death penalty this week.
Fletcher was sentenced to life in 1995 for a murder in Broward County.
Wayne Doty was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for a prison murder. According to court documents Wayne Doty was serving a life sentence for murder when he murdered his cellmate Xavier Rodriguez by strangling and stabbing the 21 year old. Wayne Doty would be convicted and sentenced to death.
A man on death row who requested the electric chair had promised prosecutors during his second murder trial he would kill more people if the state did not kill him first.
The 42-year-old Wayne C. Doty was sentenced to the death penalty for 2013 of stabbing fellow Florida State Prison inmate Xavier Rodriguez in May 2011 because Rodriguez disrespected him and stole tobacco. Doty already was serving life in prison after being convicted in 1997 of shooting his former employer in the face in Plant City over drugs. Doty said during the 2013 trial for his most recent murder conviction that he wanted to be put to death and said he would likely kill someone again while in custody if it didn’t happen, Bradford County court records show.
“I pretty much became a cold-hearted individual toward others,” Doty was quoted as saying from a transcript of his trial in Bradford County Circuit Court.
Also in the transcript, Doty blamed his father on his personal problems and the prison environment he lived in led him to kill Rodriguez. He also implied he was willing to kill prison staff, if needed.
“I don’t want to be in a position where someone might not make it home to their family,” he said. ” They know what I’m talking about. I’m not going to stop. I’ll do it again if I’ve got to.”
Doty has requested to serve his death sentence with the electric chair. Monday, he faces the first of a series of hearings where he is expected to fire his appellate attorney and request a competency exam that will likely seal his fate to waive any automatic appeals. The Florida Supreme Court unanimously affirmed his death sentence in July.
Despite a 12-year halt to executions that ended in 1976, Florida used the electric chair to kill convicted criminals from the 1920s to 1999. There were malfunctions with the chair with two inmates in the 1990s, which were both blamed on the operator. In one case, prison staff used a synthetic natural sponge instead of synthetic natural and it caught fire, Florida Department of Corrections officials said.
The Florida Legislature approved lethal injection as another way to execute people on death row in 2000, and it has since been the preferred method. However, an inmate has a choice in the way he dies and in this case, Doty has chosen the chair.
Executions are carried out at the Florida State Prison in Raiford, about 10 miles northwest of Starke, in a small room adjacent to the death row where condemned prisoners are housed. In lethal injection cases, an anonymous member of the public is paid $150 to administer the lethal drugs from a booth to the right of the condemned inmate. To the left is a DOC staff member who will take a phone call directly from the governor’s office before actually beginning the execution. The electric chair is in the corner of the room, away from the area where the inmate is dispatched, but there are bolts on the floor where the contraption can be installed. The chair that could be used to kill Doty was built in 1999, according to DOC records.
Only Gov. Rick Scott can actually sign death warrants that prompt executions. He and former General Counsel Peter Antonacci deliberately went through the roughly 400 cases of men and women currently awaiting the death penalty to assure the cases were sound. Scott picked up the pace with executions during his first term and he matched former Gov. Jeb Bush with 21 executions, which was reached Jan. 15 when Shane Kormondy was put to death for the 1993 murder of high-profile banker Gary McAdams during a burglary in Escambia County. McAdams’ wife was raped during the crime by Kormondy’s accomplices, and she was sitting in the front row of the witness chamber when he was put to death in minutes.
The governor’s 20th execution was Chadwick Banks, who had been convicted of fatally shooting his wife in Gadsden County while she slept in 1991, and then raping his 10-year-old stepdaughter before shooting her in the back of the head.
The latest death warrant signed by Scott is for 59-year-old Jerry Correll, who was convicted in 1985 of fatally stabbing his 5-year-old daughter, ex-wife, ex-sister in-law and his ex-mother in-law. His execution is scheduled for Oct. 29 and will be lethal injection.
A prison pen pal account fitting Doty’s identity can be found here.
Doty was initially convicted in 1997 of shooting his former employer in the face during a robbery over drugs. Doty had become distraught after his brother was killed, which led him to a life of homelessness, alcohol and prescription drugs. Doty walked into the Plant City home of Harvey Horne, pointed a gun at his face and demanded drugs. Horne got on his knees and begged Doty to not shoot him, but he fired the gun, according to a Plant City Police Department report.
Along with the fatal attack on Rodriguez, Doty also slit the throat of a man who ended an intimate relationship with him while in prison, according to an Eighth Circuit Court of Appeal document.
Dwight Eaglin was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for two prison murder. According to court documents Dwight Eaglin and Steven Smith would murder correctional officer Darla Lathram and inmate Charles Fuston at the Charlotte Correctional Institution in 2003 following an attempted prison escape. Dwight Eaglin would be convicted and sentenced to death.
The evidence at trial established that in 2003, the Charlotte Correctional Institution was undergoing a renovation of the inmate dormitories. That same year, Eaglin, [Stephen] Smith, and [Michael] Jones, who were part of a group of inmates permitted to participate in the renovation process, began planning an escape attempt. With regard to the escape plans, the inmates constructed an escape ladder and a metal tool that would hook to the outer lights of the prison, but the tool was destroyed a month before the attempted escape. Eaglin blamed [the inmate victim, Charles] Fuston and John Beaston, another inmate, for destroying the tool.
Two inmates, Kenneth Christopher Lykins and Jesse Baker, testified to what they heard about the escape plans. Lykins testified that he overheard Eaglin, Smith, and Jones talking about their upcoming escape. Specifically, Eaglin stated that he would kill Fuston before he left because “he didn’t like the way he disrespected him.” Lykins also overheard Eaglin state that he would kill anyone who tried to stop him from doing what he was going to do. On cross-examination, Lykins, a twelve-time convicted felon, was impeached with an affidavit in which he denied knowing anything about the escape or the killing of Lathrem and Fuston. He explained this prior inconsistency by stating he had been concerned with his own safety.
Jesse Baker, another inmate and nine-time convicted felon, also testified to overhearing the escape plans. He specifically heard Eaglin, Smith, and Jones stating that “they would kill any bitch that got in their way.” Further, Baker testified that Eaglin wanted to “straighten” Fuston, which indicated an intent to kill. Baker was impeached with the fact that he suffered from severe depression and was previously housed in the psychiatric dorm and the crisis unit of the prison.
Additional testimony from correctional officers working at the time of the escape attempt established that on June 11, 2003, Eaglin was observed attempting to jump on the outer-perimeter fence of the prison. When officers responded to the scene, Eaglin was sprayed with chemical agents and subdued. Thereafter, Officer Lathrem was found in a mop closet, huddled in a fetal position with injuries to her head area. A medium-sized sledgehammer was located near her body. Fuston was located in another cell lying on the floor with blood coming from underneath his head. He was unconscious but still breathing at that time. Beaston was found conscious in a secured cell with a large wound in the middle of his forehead. Beaston was the only surviving victim of the attacks.
The morning after the attempted escape, Eaglin was questioned regarding the murders. Eaglin stated he wanted the “chair,” and that he “tried to kill those three people.” Eaglin also admitted that he tried to “jump the fence.”
With regard to the injuries suffered by the victims, the medical examiner, Dr. R.H. Imami, testified that Lathrem’s injuries included a hemorrhage in her right eye, two injuries on the right side of her head, and injuries on her face. Dr. Imami found no evidence of defensive wounds or injuries and concluded that skull and brain injuries were the cause of Lathrem’s death. The cause of these injuries was heavy, blunt force trauma. Dr. Imami opined that Lathrem was struck at least three times and that any of the blows would have caused her death. Finally, Dr. Imami stated that she believed the sledgehammer entered into evidence caused the injuries.
Dr. Imami also conducted the autopsy of Fuston. Fuston had injuries to the right and left sides of his face and head, the back of his head, and his mouth, in addition to skull fractures caused by blunt trauma. In total, Fuston suffered three to four fatal blows. Dr. Imami did not see typical defensive wounds but she observed a small skin scrape on the back of Fuston’s left hand. She opined that the scrape could have been caused when he fell or during subsequent medical intervention. Ultimately, Dr. Imami concluded that skull and brain injuries by blunt-force trauma to the head were also the cause of Fuston’s death and that the trauma was caused by a hammer.
Upon the testing of evidence obtained during the investigation of the murders, Lathrem’s DNA was discovered on the sledgehammer that was near her body. Both Lathrem’s and Fuston’s DNA were located on the pants Eaglin wore on the day of the murder. Lathrem’s DNA was also located on Eaglin’s left boot. On cross-examination, defense counsel referred to earlier testimony of a corrections officer who testified that he assisted in removing Lathrem’s body from the mop closet and then escorted Eaglin to the visiting park. The crime laboratory analyst conceded that this scenario presented the possibility of cross-contamination between Lathrem’s blood and Eaglin’s clothes. She also stated that she did not analyze every item sent to her but she matched the DNA profile of Lathrem to DNA found on codefendant Smith’s right shoe.
The defense presented no witnesses but moved for a judgment of acquittal, which was denied by the court. The jury convicted Eaglin of the first-degree murders of Lathrem and Fuston.
Eaglin, 19 So.3d at 939–40.
During the penalty phase, the State presented evidence of Eaglin’s prior violent felony—first-degree murder with a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Id. at 940. He was serving this sentence at the time of the murders in this case. Id.
Ricardo Gill was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for a prison murder. According to court documents Ricardo Gill would murder his cellmate Orlando Rosello. Ricardo Gill told a judge after the first murder that he committed that he would keep killing until he received the death penalty. Orlando Rosello murder took place four days after he was sentenced to life. Ricardo Gill would be convicted and sentenced to death
Twice-convicted murderer Ricardo Gill got what he asked for Friday: a death sentence. Gill, 36, was first convicted of murder in the 1999 fatal beating and stabbing of Gainesville travel agent Beverly Moore. In 2001, Gill pleaded guilty in the case, telling Circuit Court Judge Stan Morris he would prefer to be put to death for a crime he had not committed than spend his life in prison. Gill also told Morris that if he did not receive a death sentence for Moore’s murder, another judge would have to impose it. Morris cited Gill’s extensive mental health history in sentencing him to life in prison. The judge also notified prison officials of the apparent threat Gill had issued. Four days later, Gill’s cellmate at the Reception and Medical Center in Lake Butler was found strangled to death with a strip of bedsheet around his neck. Orlando Rosello had been serving a 20-month state prison term for car theft when he was sent to the center for medical care and placed in a cell with Gill. A year ago, Gill pleaded guilty to murdering Rosello and told Circuit Court Judge Robert Cates to sentence him to death or expect another person to die. “You will give me a license to kill if you give me another life sentence,” Gill told Cates on July 8, 2005. “I am a hundred percent sure this time it will not be an inmate that is killed.” When Gill appeared in front of Cates on Friday, he was shackled, handcuffed and wore a shock belt around his waist that could be activated by one of the five correctional officers who escorted him into the second floor courtroom. Repeatedly, Cates offered to delay sentencing, to find another attorney for Gill or to consider any oral arguments Gill wanted to make to avoid a death penalty. Over and over, mostly with yes and no answers, Gill made it clear that he wanted to proceed, that he wanted to continue representing himself and that he wanted to be sentenced to death. Gill’s court-appointed, standby attorneys, John Stokes and Bill Salmon, made no arguments on Gill’s behalf at his direction. During the 55-minute-long sentencing hearing Gill did ask that a few technical and typographical changes be made in court documents. Cates read aloud each line of his 15-page order sentencing Gill to death, stopping periodically to ask if Gill had an questions or comments. In conclusion, Cates wrote that Gill could be sentenced to death, “despite the fact yet Ricardo Ignacio Gill is a deeply troubled individual with a long history of mental health problems, mental disturbances, suicidal impulses and a life primarily spent in penal institutions.” By early Friday afternoon, prison officials said Gill was in a cell on Death Row at Florida State Prison. How and when Gill could be executed is unclear as questions about the use of lethal injections work their way through the courts. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a Florida Death Row case that inmates can file last-minute appeals on the method of execution. The high court then sent the case back to lower courts. Even before the Supreme Court had issued its ruling, Gov. Jeb Bush postponed all executions pending a decision. The postponement is expected to remain in effect until the issue is resolved.
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