A death row prisoner lashed out with a foul-mouthed attack on the Florida governor saying he could “suck our d***s” in his last words before his execution.
Donald Dillbeck, 59, was pronounced dead at 6:13 pm after receiving a lethal injection at Florida State Prison, the governor’s office said.
The killer of a police officer had escaped from jail and slit the throat of Faye Vann, 44, two miles from the state Capitol in Tallahassee, in 1990.
He was convicted of Ms Vann’s murder and a jury recommended 8-4 that he be executed.
The curtain between the death chamber and the viewing room opened at 6 pm Thursday and when asked if he had any last words, Dillbeck said: “I know I hurt people when I was young. I really messed up.”
He added: “But I know Ron DeSantis has done a lot worse. He’s taken a lot from a lot of people. I speak for all men, women and children. He’s put his foot on our necks. Ron DeSantis and other people like him can suck our d***s.”
The execution began at 6:02 pm, and Dillbeck closed his eyes shortly thereafter. He breathed deeply for a few minutes while his body shook. By 6:07 pm, his mouth hung open, and he appeared to stop breathing.
Ms Vann’s children, Tony and Laura, released a statement after the execution stating: “11,932 days ago, Donald Dillbeck brutally killed our Mother. We were robbed of years of memories with her, and it has been very painful ever since.”
They thanked DeSantis for carrying out the execution, saying it “has given us some closure.”
DeSantis, who was reelected last November and who is considered a potential 2024 presidential candidate, was quiet on the death penalty during his first term. His office refused to answer repeated phone calls and emails about the lack of warrants signed since 2019.
But DeSantis criticised a Broward County jury's failure to sentence Nikolas Cruz to death for fatally shooting 17 students and faculty at a Parkland high school, and has since said he wants to change a 2017 state law that requires a unanimous jury recommendation to impose the death penalty so that one or two jurors can't affect the sentence.
Opponents of DeSantis have said that Dillbeck was used as a political pawn.
He reportedly suggested to a Florida Sheriff’s Association conference that eight of 12 could possibly be sufficient to sentence a person to death - the majority that handed Dillbeck his verdict.
“I’m not minimizing what [Dillbeck] did to people,” said Florida Democrat Allison Miller “but he is most definitely a political pawn.”
The state Supreme Court earlier this month denied appeals claiming that he shouldn't be put to death because he suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome and it's cruel and unusual to keep him on death row for more than 30 years before his death warrant was signed.
Dillbeck’s mother reportedly drank up to 24 beers a day during her pregnancy leading to a “catastrophic effect on Mr. Dillbeck’s intellectual and adaptive functioning,” his lawyers said.
The US Supreme Court denied his appeals Wednesday afternoon.
Dillbeck was 15 when he stabbed a man in Indiana while trying to steal a CB radio, court records show. He fled to Florida, where Lee County Deputy Dwight Lynn Hall found him in a Fort Myers Beach parking lot.
While Hall was searching him, Dillbeck hit the deputy in the groin and ran. Hall tackled him and, as the two wrestled, Dillbeck took Hall’s gun and shot him twice.
Dillbeck was 11 years into a life sentence for killing the deputy when he walked away from a work release assignment catering a meal for a seniors event, according to court records. He then bought a paring knife and walked to Tallahassee.
Vann was waiting for her family when Dillbeck approached her car with the knife and demanded a ride, saying he’d forgotten how to drive, court records show.
Vann honked the horn, tried to drive off and fought back that Sunday afternoon, but Dillbeck stabbed her more than 20 times and slit her throat, court records show. He crashed the car a short time later and was captured after running from the scene.
