They watched Florida executions: What they saw, how they felt after. In their words
Florida carried out its first execution since 2019 when convicted murderer Donald David Dillbeck was put to death Thursday.
It was the first execution in Florida since Gary Ray Bowles was put to death by lethal injection in August 2019 for a murder in Jacksonville. And it was Florida's 100th execution since 1976 when the death penalty was reinstated.
Dillbeck didn’t mince words in the minutes before the state executed him.
“I know I hurt people when I was young. I really messed up,” Dillbeck, 59, said, strapped to a gurney in the Florida State Prison death chamber. “But I know (Florida Gov.) 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.”
Then, at 6:02 p.m., Florida Department of Corrections workers began to administer the first of three drugs to sedate him, paralyze him and stop his heart. He was pronounced dead 11 minutes later, at 6:13 p.m.
Gannett - Florida Network reporter Kathryn Varn covered Dillbeck's execution. Her detailed story can be found here.
Three journalists who covered Florida executions explain how they felt
Three South Florida journalists who covered four executions in Florida wrote first-person accounts of their experiences for The Palm Beach Post.
Here are their stories.
Watching Aileen "Monster" Wuornos and UF coed killer Danny Rollin put to death
∎ Michael Mayo covered the execution of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in 2002 and Gainesville coed killer Danny Rolling in 2006 for the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel. Mike remembers Rolling singing to the Lord. He recalled Wuornos, played by actress Charlize Theron in the movie Monster, vowed she would return from the dead. "I'll be back," she said. To read that story, go here (for subscribers)
"I was just numb," after watching the execution of William Van Poyck
∎ Jane Musgrave, then with The Palm Beach Post, witnessed the execution of William Van Poyck in 2013. Poyck was sentenced to die for the 1987 murder of a Glades prison guard. As Jane described it, after Poyck was put to death, "the world didn't seem safer. I was just numb." To read that story, go here (for subscribers).
Flames erupted from Jesse Tafero after being put to death in electric chair
∎ Larry Keller, then with the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, witnessed cop-killer Jesse Tafero put to death in the electric chair in 1990. Tafero killed Florida trooper Phillip A. Black and his friend, Donald Robert Irwin. Tafero's was a botched execution as flames shot up from his head. To read that story, go here (for subscribers).
Florida's 100th execution since 1976:Strapped to a gurney, death row inmate Donald Dillbeck saves his last words for DeSantis
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Dillbeck got life for a fatal shooting, but escaped and killed another person, in Tallahassee
Dillbeck, now 59, was initially sentenced to life in prison in the 1979 shooting death of Lee County sheriff’s Deputy Dwight Lynn Hall when Dillbeck was 15. But in 1990, he walked away from a catering function in Quincy where he and other inmates were working.
Dillbeck went to Tallahassee, got a knife and tried to carjack a vehicle, according to court documents. Faye Vann, who was sitting in the car, resisted and was fatally stabbed, with Dillbeck then arrested after crashing the car. He was convicted in 1991 of first-degree murder, armed robbery and armed burglary, Department of Corrections records show.
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.
More:As Florida execution looms, Gov. DeSantis wants to make it easier to send people to death row
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Convicted killer Donald David Dillbeck was executed in Florida
