‘Emerging Serial Killer’ Executed in Florida for the Murder of Miami Newspaper Staff Member
A 48-year-old man was executed by lethal injection in the southern US state of Florida for the murder of a newspaper employee in 2000, who was taken while on her lunch break.
Michael Tanzi was executed shortly after 6pm (11pm Irish time) yesterday at the Florida State Prison in Raiford for the killing of Janet Acosta, 49, according to a statement from prison officials.
Tanzi is the third inmate on death row to be executed in Florida this year and the 11th across the United States.
He admitted to murdering Ms. Acosta, who worked for the Miami Herald, and received a death sentence in 2003.
Additionally, Tanzi confessed to another woman’s murder, although he was never charged in that case, and a police detective referred to him in the Miami Herald as a “fledgling serial killer.”
His legal team attempted to stop the execution, claiming there could be complications with the lethal injection due to his “morbid obesity.”
Tanzi’s execution is one of two planned in the United States this week.
Mikal Mahdi, 42, is scheduled to be executed by firing squad in South Carolina on Friday for the 2004 murder of an off-duty police officer.
If carried out, Mahdi would become the second person executed by firing squad in South Carolina this year.
Since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the vast majority of executions in the US have been carried out using lethal injection.
Last year, there were 25 executions in the United States.
The death penalty has been abolished in 23 out of the 50 US states, while three others—California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania—currently have moratoriums in place.
President Donald Trump advocates for capital punishment and called for an expansion of its application “for the vilest crimes” on his first day in office.
Last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that federal prosecutors would pursue the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, who is charged with the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4 in New York.
