Florida man faces execution for killing of woman on break from work at The Miami Herald

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A antheral convicted of sidesplitting a pistillate who was carjacked connected her luncheon interruption from her occupation astatine The Miami Herald is acceptable to beryllium executed connected Tuesday evening.

Barring a precocious reprieve, Michael Tanzi is scheduled to person a lethal injection astatine 6 p.m. astatine Florida State Prison for the April 2000 abduction and strangling of Janet Acosta.

A accumulation idiosyncratic astatine the newspaper, the unfortunate was beaten, robbed, driven to the Florida Keys and past strangled and her assemblage near connected an island.

Tanzi, 48, would go the 3rd inmate connected Florida's decease enactment executed this year, with different lethal injection scheduled connected May 1 nether decease warrants signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Court records amusement the unfortunate was connected a interruption from her occupation astatine the paper connected April 25, 2000. She was sitting successful her van speechmaking a publication erstwhile Tanzi approached her, asked for a cigaret and past began punching her successful the face, the records indicate.

“Holding her wrist and threatening her with a razor blade,” tribunal records show, Tanzi drove to Homestead, southbound of Miami, wherever helium stopped astatine a state presumption and bound and gagged Acosta. He took $53 successful currency from her, on with her slope card.

They past went connected to the Florida Keys municipality of Tavernier, wherever Tanzi utilized Acosta's slope paper to bargain wealth from her account, according to the records. They stopped astatine a hardware store wherever Tanzi bought duct portion and razor blades, and past Tanzi decided helium had to termination Acosta, they added.

“He drove to an isolated country successful Cudjoe Key, told her helium was going to termination her, and began to strangle her,” according to a summary by the authorities Commission connected Capital Cases. “He stopped to spot duct portion implicit her mouth, chemoreceptor and eyes successful an effort to quiescent her and past strangled her until she expired.”

Meanwhile, Acosta's friends and co-workers reported her missing erstwhile she didn't instrumentality from her break. That led constabulary to her van, which Tanzi had driven to Key West. Police said Tanzi confessed to the transgression and showed investigators wherever helium had near Acosta's body.

“If I had fto her go, I was gonna get caught quicker,” Tanzi told officers, according to the record. “I didn’t privation to get caught. I was having excessively overmuch amusive ... I told her, I says, ‘I can’t fto you go. If I fto you go, past I’m gonna beryllium successful a batch of trouble.’ ”

Tanzi was convicted of first-degree murder, carjacking, kidnapping and equipped robbery. A Monroe County assemblage recommended the decease condemnation connected a 12-0 ballot for Acosta's slaying.

Tanzi has filed respective appeals, nary successful. The Florida Supreme Court precocious rejected his assertion that helium shouldn't beryllium executed due to the fact that helium is “morbidly obese” and suffers from sciatica, which could origin unconstitutional levels of pain. The tribunal ruled that his entreaty was not timely due to the fact that his conditions had been known since 2009.

“Additionally, this tribunal has considered and rejected akin arguments based connected obesity and IV procedures,” the justices ruled.

Two different convicted killers person been executed successful Florida this year. Edward James, 63, was enactment to decease connected March 20 for sidesplitting an 8-year-old miss and her grandma during a nighttime of dense drinking and cause use.

James Dennis Ford, 64, was executed connected Feb. 13 for sidesplitting a hubby and woman astatine a distant workplace successful an onslaught witnessed by the couple’s toddler, who survived the ordeal.