As Florida prepares for its third execution of the year, Michael Tanzi, convicted of a brutal kidnapping and murder in 2000, is slated for lethal injection tonight at 6 p.m. Tanzi's death warrant, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis, will see the fulfillment of a sentence for the killing of Janet Acosta, a production worker at The Miami Herald who fell victim to Tanzi's violent spree during her lunch break over two decades ago, as reported by CBS Miami.
Acosta's encounter with Tanzi turned fatal after he robbed her and subsequently strangled her with the intent to eliminate any chance of being caught, the attack began with a seemingly benign request for a cigarette which spiraled into a nightmare of abduction and brutal assault, leading to her death in an isolated area of the Florida Keys, an admission Tanzi made to investigators as "I didn't want to get caught, I was having too much fun," USA TODAY also shed light on Tanzi's alleged previous violent acts, signifying him as a potential serial offender with a life marred by trauma and abuse, a narrative unsupported by courts against the weight of his crimes.
Despite pleas regarding his troubled past and physical condition—including claims that Tanzi's obesity and sciatica could cause extraordinary pain during the execution process—his appeals have been consistently turned down. The Florida Supreme Court recently dismissed his latest attempt and rejected the notion that his conditions would render the execution unconstitutional on account of pain levels: "Tanzi fails to offer any support for his groundless assertion that the massive dose of etomidate, that has been repeatedly and successfully used in Florida’s lethal injection protocol, will not work for him," stated court records, as summarized by the Attorney General's Office, according to USA TODAY.
