Convicted Killer Executed In Florida After Appeal Denied By Supreme Court

STARKE, FL - Florida executed Michael Lambrix by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on Thursday night. Lambrix, 57, of Plant City was convicted of murdering two people decades ago after a night of drinking. He is the second inmate to be put to death by the state since it resumed executions in August.

A last-ditch appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court by Lambrix delayed the execution for about four hours. The appeal was denied and Lambrix died at 10:10 p.m., the Associated Press reported. The state had stopped executions after a court ruling found Florida's method of sentencing people to death was unconstitutional. The state Legislature passed a new law requiring death sentences to have a unanimous jury vote.

William Hennis, Lambrix's attorney, had argued to the Supreme Court that because Lambrix’s jury recommendations for death were not unanimous they should be thrown out.

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Lambrix was convicted of killing Clarence Moore and Aleisha Bryant in 1983 after a long night of partying in the small central Florida town of LaBelle, about 30 miles northeast of Fort Myers.

Lambrix has claimed in previous appeals that it was Moore who killed Bryant, and that he killed Moore only in self-defense. On the night of the murders, Lambrix and his roommate, Frances Smith, had met the victims at a bar, and returned to their trailer to eat spaghetti and continue the party, prosecutors said.

At the trailer, Lambrix asked Moore to go outside. Smith testified that Lambrix returned about 20 minutes later and asked Bryant to come out outside. Prosecutors said he choked Bryant, and used a tire iron to kill Moore.

Smith testified that Lambrix returned to the trailer alone after the killings, his clothes covered in blood. The two finished the spaghetti and then buried the bodies, Smith testified.

Photo via Florida Department of Corrections/Doug Smith. 2nd photo via the Associated Press. The Associated Press contributed to this report.