Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant Monday for a man who was convicted of fatally stabbing a woman after escaping custody while serving a life sentence for killing an officer.
Donald David Dillbeck, 59, is scheduled to die on February 23 by lethal injection for the 1990 murder of Faye Vann in Tallahassee. He had escaped custody two days earlier while serving a life sentence for the death of Lee County Deputy Sheriff Dwight Lynn Hall in 1979.
It would be the first execution in Florida since Gary Ray Bowles was executed in June 2019 and the longest the state has gone without an execution since 1983.
Dillbeck escaped while participating in an off-site vocational program in Quincy, according to the governor’s office. He bought a knife while walking to Tallahassee in the adjoining county, then stabbed Vann in a mall parking lot and took his car, according to court records. He crashed nearby before being caught. Vann was waiting alone in the car while her family did the shopping.
FLORIDA MAN RECEIVES DEATH PENALTY FOR BEATING 2 CHILDREN WITH A HAMMER AND SLICING THEIR THROATS ‘NO MERCY’
He had served 11 years of a life sentence after being convicted of killing Hall. According to court records, Hall had approached Dillbeck in a Fort Myers beach parking lot and Dillbeck ran away. As Hall caught up with him, Dillbeck grabbed Hall’s gun and shot him twice. Dillbeck confessed to the murder, according to the governor’s office.
DeSantis, who was sworn in for a second term this month, last signed a death warrant in September 2019 for the execution of James Dailey, who was convicted of the 1985 murder of 14-year-old Shelly Boggio. But the execution was delayed by the courts and never rescheduled.
The Florida execution of a man for the 1990 murder of a woman has been set for February 23. The myna fatally stabbed a woman and killed an officer.
In Florida, where 301 people are currently on death row, the governor sets an execution date and signs an execution warrant. By comparison, in Texas, the most active death penalty state in the country, execution dates are set by a court.
DeSantis has criticized a Broward County jury’s decision not to sentence Nikolas Cruz to death for fatally shooting 17 students and teachers at a Parkland high school, but has otherwise remained mum on the penalty. capital after two executions during his first year in office.
By comparison, his immediate predecessor, current Republican US Senator Rick Scott, oversaw 28 executions. Since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, Florida has been one of the most active states in carrying out executions.
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Democratic Gov. Bob Graham oversaw 16 executions between 1979 and 1987. Republican Gov. Bob Martinez oversaw nine in his tenure, Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles oversaw 18, and 21 prisoners were executed under Republican Jeb Bush.
“Signing the death warrants and carrying out the death sentence was one of the most difficult parts of the job,” Bush said in an email to The Associated Press during DeSantis’ first term. “It was exhausting in every way. I never felt comfortable doing it, but I had a duty to do it.”
