Florida executes first inmate since 2019

Convicted murderer Donald Dillbeck was executed in Florida on Thursday. This is the first execution in the state in over three years and the 100th execution since the punishment was reinstated in 1979. Photo courtesy of the Florida Department of Corrections.

Feb. 23 (UPI) — Florida carried out the death penalty Thursday, the state’s first execution in more than three years and its 100th since the sentence was reinstated in 1979.

Donald Dillbeck was executed by lethal injection at the Florida State Penitentiary at Raiford Prison. officials confirmed in a statement.

Earlier in the day, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a last-minute request by Dilbeck’s lawyers, setting the stage for his execution.

The execution began at 6:00 pm EST after the 59-year-old was tied to a gurney in the state death chamber. He stopped breathing and was pronounced dead at 6:13 pm EST.

Lawyers asked for a reduced sentence, arguing that Dilbek suffered from a neurobehavioral disorder associated with prenatal alcohol exposure, which should have exempted him from execution.

The 14th Amendment protects people with intellectual disabilities from death sentence.

They also argued that his execution would violate the Eighth Amendment protecting convicts from the death penalty unless the jury returned a unanimous verdict. Eight of 12 jurors voted in 1995 to sentence Dilbeck to death.

Dilbeck was convicted of the 1990 murder of Faye Lamb Vann in a mall parking lot in Tallahassee, Florida. At the time, Vann was expecting her young children. Dilbek stabbed her more than 20 times in the stomach after she resisted his attempt to steal her car.

At the time of the murder, Dilbeck was due to serve a life sentence in prison for the 1979 shooting of Deputy Dwight Lynn Hall in Lee County, Florida. At that time he was 15 years old.

After spending ten years behind bars, Dilbeck escaped doing a job trying to steal Vann’s car a few days after escaping. After stabbing her, he crashed at a short distance and was quickly arrested.

Dilbeck was the first prisoner to be executed in Florida since 2019, when 57-year-old serial killer Gary Ray Bowles was executed by lethal injection.

He used his final word to take aim at Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla.

“I know I hurt people when I was young,” Dilbeck said before the lethal three-drug combination was injected into his arm.

“I really screwed up. But I know that Ron DeSantis did much worse. He took a lot from a lot of people. I speak for all men, women and children, he put his foot on our necks. Ron DeSantis and other people like him can fuck our shit.”

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