One more was executed at. It is a death sentence to death for two murders outside the bar in 1993 and executed on Tuesday night. It is the 26th killer performed in the United States in 2025.
Michael Bernard Bell, 54, was found dead at 6:25 pm After a deadly injection in the Florida State prison, near the city of Stark, according to Brian Griffin, a spokesman for Governor Ron Dessandis. Bell was convicted in 1995 and was sentenced to death for the murders of Jimmy West and Tameka Smith.
The death penalty and thanks to the convict
Bell’s last words were: “Thank you for not letting me spend the rest of my life in prison.”
Death Penalty and an increase in executions
With five months left in the year, in 2025 it has already equalized the total number of executions of 2024 and 2018. The number of executions has generally declined in the US from the beginning of the 21st century, culminating in 98 executions in 1999. From 1995 to 2006, the average annual number of executions was about 67.
Death penalty and where is the increase in executions
John Bloom, director of the Cornell Death Penalty Project, said the recent increase in executions is not related to a change in public support for the death penalty nor an increase in penalties, but rather to the increased discretion of state rulers.
“Many of those executed are people who have been in the system for many years, for a long time in a death wing,” Bloom said, adding that there are rulers and general prosecutors with an aggressive attitude “who want to proceed with the executions”.
The death penalty and the encouragement of Trump
Bloom also referred to a broad executive order signed by President Donald Trump on the first day of his return to post, encouraging prosecutors to call for the death penalty and to be kept in force at state level.
“The most cynical reading is: since it matters to the president, it matters to them as well,” Bloom told the rulers.
Florida’s spokesman Ted Berman said Tuesday that the department was fully prepared to perform its duty, as assigned to the courts and the ruler.
Death penalty, champion in executions Florida
Bell was the eighth man executed in Florida this year, with ninth scheduled for later in July. The state had executed six people in 2023, but only one in 2022.
Florida has made the most executions in the US this year. Texas and South Carolina follow with four executions each. Alabama has executed three people, Oklahoma two, and Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee from one.
How did the double murder became
In December 1993, Bell thought he had identified the man of a man who had killed his brother earlier that year, according to court documents. However, he did not know that the man had sold the vehicle to West.
Bell called two friends and armed with an AK-47 rifle, according to authorities. They found the car outside a nightclub with alcohol and waited. When West, Smith and another woman came out of the club, Bell approached and opened fire.
West died on the spot and Smith succumbed to her wounds on the way to the hospital. The third woman escaped without injuries. Witnesses reported that Bell was also shot at the crowd before fleeing. Was arrested next year.
Another three homicides for the death of the
Bell was later convicted of three more homicides. She had killed a woman and her young son in 1989, as well as his mother’s partner about four months before the attack on West and Smith, according to authorities.
The last meal of the death of
Prison officials reported that Bell woke up at 6:30 on Tuesday morning and ate his last meal: omelette, bacon, potatoes and orange juice. He had a meeting with a spiritual advisor but did not accept other visitors.
Request to suspend the execution of the death penalty
The US Supreme Court rejected Bell’s request to suspend execution on Tuesday.
His lawyers had argued that the execution had to be suspended because of new revelations related to witness deposits. However, the judges unanimously rejected the argument last week, citing incomprehensible elements of guilt in a 54 -page decision.
Source: Associated Press, ertnews.gr
