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yesterday

Florida Inmate Michael Bernard Bell Set for Lethal Injection Today

The Florida Supreme Court’s unanimous denial of his appeal over new witness testimony leaves only a pending U.S. Supreme Court decision to halt his execution.

FILE - Clouds hover over the entrance of the Florida State Prison in Starke, Fla., Aug. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Curt Anderson, file)
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Overview

  • Bell’s lawyers have moved to the U.S. Supreme Court after the Florida Supreme Court unanimously upheld his death sentence over claims of new witness evidence.
  • If carried out today, his execution would be Florida’s eighth death penalty case in 2025 and the 26th in the United States this year, surpassing the total for all of 2024.
  • Florida has executed more people than any other state so far this year, with Texas and South Carolina tied for second place at four each.
  • Bell received the death penalty in 1995 for a December 1993 AK-47 shooting outside a Jacksonville-area bar that killed Jimmy West and Tamecka Smith.
  • He was previously convicted of three additional murders dating back to 1989, including the slayings of a woman and her toddler and the killing of his mother’s boyfriend.