Michael Duane Zack III, sentenced to death in 1997 for the 1996 murders of two women in Florida, was executed Tuesday night by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison, according to the state Department of Corrections.
The execution took place hours after the Supreme Court denied requests to stop execution of the death row inmate and after last week the condemned man's lawyers requested a stay of execution alleging that a lower court was wrong to "deny his claim that he is intellectually disabled." However, attorneys for the state of Florida filed a response opposing the stay of execution.
Zack met with his wife and his spiritual advisor early Tuesday, and refused the last meal offered to him, the corrections department said. On the other hand, the association Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty shared a statement written by Zack moments after his execution:
27 years ago I was an alcoholic and drug addict. I did things that have hurt a lot of people, not only the victims and their families and friends, but also my own family and friends. Since then I wake up every day full of regrets and with the wish that my time here on earth means something more than the worst thing I have ever done.
In 1997, Michael Duane Zack III was convicted and sentenced to death for the June 1996 murder of Ravonne Smith, whom he violently killed in her home after meeting at a bar near Pensacola. He was also sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Laura Rosillo on a beach in Okaloosa County (Florida), whom he also met in a bar before killing her.
The execution of Michael Duane Zack III was the eighth under Governor Ron DeSantis and the sixth in the state during 2023.
