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4h ago

Florida Executes Convicted Double Murderer, Pushing U.S. Death Toll to 26

Florida’s eight executions this year have made it the nation’s leader, contributing to a U.S. death penalty total not reached since 2015.

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Michael Bell, 54, is scheduled to die by lethal injection July 15 for the mistaken-revenge killing of two people outside of Jacksonville bar in 1993.
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FILE - Clouds hover over the entrance of the Florida State Prison in Starke, Fla., Aug. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Curt Anderson, file)

Overview

  • Michael Bernard Bell was pronounced dead by lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke at 6:25 p.m. on July 15 after state and federal courts refused to stay his execution.
  • Bell was convicted and sentenced to death in 1995 for the 1993 ambush of Jimmy West and Tamecka Smith outside a Jacksonville bar, a case of mistaken identity linked to a revenge plot.
  • His criminal record included three additional murder convictions between 1989 and 1993, underscoring a decades-long pattern of lethal violence.
  • The Florida Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected Bell’s final appeals based on newly discovered evidence, citing overwhelming proof of guilt.
  • Bell’s execution was the eighth in Florida this year and the 26th nationwide in 2025, marking the highest annual U.S. total since 2015.