Death Penalty News

Did you know that 18-percent of Florida’s death row is made up of veterans of our military services? It is an important fact as we prepare to honor those who have served our country this Veterans Day. I have learned from firsthand experience that veterans sentenced to death can help us all to understand some of the failures of Florida’s death penalty, as well as how to improve our justice system overall. I am a psychiatrist trained at Stanford University with more than 30-years of clinical experience, including 3-years overseeing medical and psychiatric care on Florida’s Death Row. In our system, for a conviction and execution, a defendant must meet a legal standard of competency at the time of at the time of the crime, during the trial, through the appeals, and right up to the execution. However, even cases where guilt is certain, we cannot be 100-percent certain of mental capacity, yet an execution is a 100-percent final. There is a better way. We can learn fro...

Florida executes man convicted of 2 killings decades ago Florida executed an inmate Thursday who was convicted of killing two people after a night of drinking decades ago. Michael Lambrix, 57, died by lethal injection at 10:10 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Bradford County. For his final words, Lambrix said, "I wish to say the Lord's Prayer." He recited the words, ending on the line "deliver us from evil," his voice breaking slightly at times. When he finished and the drug cocktail began flowing through his veins, Lambrix's chest heaved and his lips fluttered. This continues for about five minutes, until his lips and eyelids turned silver-blue and he lay motionless. A doctor checked his chest with a stethoscope and shined a light in both of his eyes before pronouncing him dead. Corrections spokeswoman Michelle Glady said Bryant's sister was the only victims' family member to attend and she did not wish to speak with reporters ...

By Michael Lambrix What if someone approached you today and told you that you only had two days to live - and that you had to spend your remaining days in solitary, away from all those that mattered to you. Alone, you slowly count down each moment of every day, each tick of that clock, drawing you closer to a date with death. You will be allowed to say a few (and only a few) “last words”. Whatever you decide to say is what you will be remembered for (or forgotten, if all you do is waste that last breathe of life). That is where I am today. As I write this, it is Friday, September 15, 2017, and I am in Cell One, formally known as Q-2101, only feet away from Florida's execution chamber. And in the early evening of October 5, 2017, at precisely 6:00 p.m., the State of Florida intends to put me to death for a crime I did not commit. After 34-years on Florida's Death Row, I've become familiar with how this process unfolds. I’ve seen many others where I am today ...

A Florida inmate convicted of killing 2 people decades ago has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt Thursday's scheduled execution. Attorneys for Michael Lambrix filed the appeal Tuesday.  Lambrix was convicted of killing Clarence Moore and Aleisha Bryant. Prosecutors said he killed the pair in 1983 outside his trailer near LaBelle, northeast of Fort Myers, after an evening of drinking. Lambrix argued that the execution, scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, should be halted after Florida's death penalty sentencing method was found to be unconstitutional.  The state has since required a unanimous jury vote in death cases. The jury was not unanimous in either of Lambrix's death sentence decisions, but Florida's Supreme Court has said the new rules do not apply to cases as old as his. Source : Associated Press, October 5, 2017 Vigil for Shropshire man's death row pen pal A British pen pal of a convicted Florida killer on death row will be ho...

STARKE -- Two days before his scheduled execution, Michael Lambrix decided he won’t go quietly. For an hour at Florida State Prison Tuesday, the convicted murderer talked about life and death, his last meal and upcoming funeral, and criticized a court system that he has long insisted would not consider evidence that would spare his life in the killings of Clarence Moore and Aleisha Bryant in 1983. “It won‘t be an execution,” Lambrix told reporters. “It’s going to be an act of cold-blooded murder.” Lambrix, 57, who dropped out of school in Plant City, said he killed Moore in self-defense after Moore killed Bryant during a long night of drinking near LaBelle. He was convicted largely on the testimony of a friend, Frances Smith, who was with him that night. They borrowed a neighbor’s shovel and he buried both victims. Lambrix had walked away from a prison work release program and said he didn’t report the killings to police because he knew he faced a long sentence for h...

The Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously turned down an appeal by Death Row inmate Cary Michael Lambrix, who is scheduled to be executed Oct. 5 for killing two people in 1983 near LaBelle. The appeal, filed Aug. 31, contended, in part, that Lambrix was innocent because he killed in self-defense.  Lambrix was convicted of murdering Aleisha Bryant and Clarence Moore after meeting them at a bar and inviting them to his mobile home for a spaghetti dinner. Lambrix argued that Moore assaulted and killed Bryant.  Lambrix said he tried to intervene and killed Moore in self-defense. But the Supreme Court, in a 14-page opinion Tuesday, rejected Lambrix's contention. The opinion said the self-defense argument first emerged three years after Lambrix's trial. “There is no evidence, other than Lambrix's self-serving belated assertions of self-defense, that supports his theory,” the opinion said. With the Oct. 5 execution nearing, Lambrix's attorneys...

In an unprecedented move, Florida death row inmate Michael Lambrix has declared a "hunger strike" to protest his execution (October 5, 2017) Michael Lambrix has consistently maintained his innocence in a case that remains essentially a highly circumstantial case (no eyewitnesses, no physical or forensic evidence, no confession).  Despite the case receiving international attention, his appeals for justice in courts have been defeated for over 30 years. The State funded agency CCRC South recently filed a strong and comprehensive "habeas petition" in the Florida Supreme Court specifically arguing that he must be allowed to present and be heard upon the wealth of evidence, including DNA testing (see Lambrix v Jones, Case No SC17-1608) Support in the US and around the world, as well as attorney Adam Tebrugge strongly believe that should Michael Lambrix lose his appeal again, he should then get a unique clemency hearing. Mike Lambrix has said: ...