Michael Bell, a 54-year-old man, was executed Tuesday evening at Florida State Prison near Starke. He had been found guilty of murdering two people outside a Florida bar in 1993. His execution makes him the 26th person executed in the United States this year.
Bell’s violent past Herstory is a story as tragic as it is prophetic. That tragic odyssey started in 1989 with the murder of a young mother and her toddler son. Four months after the threats, he murdered his mother’s boyfriend. A shocking turn of events, which was key in his conviction, sealed his fate. Bell thought he had identified the truck of the man who killed his brother that same year. Determined by a feeling for retribution, he approached the car. As three young women, including 21-year-old Hilda West and her friend from the club, he opened fire.
West was pronounced dead at the scene, whereas Smith died from her injuries while being transported to the hospital. After the attack, Bell was arrested in 1994 and subsequently convicted for his crimes.
On Tuesday, Bell was pronounced dead at 6:25 PM local time after receiving a lethal injection. Eyewitness reports show that his breathing grew more and more labored for at least a minute before stopping entirely. No one knew how long he was down, but witnesses reported that after about two minutes, he closed his eyes and stopped moving.
The U.S. Supreme Court had denied Bell’s request to stay the execution earlier that day. The ruling came at a time of heightened debate around the fate of the death penalty in the U.S. This discussion took off after ex-President Donald Trump signed an executive order to this effect. This order urged prosecutors to seek the death penalty more aggressively and aimed to preserve capital punishment practices across states.
John Blume, a legal expert on death penalty issues, commented on the broader context of executions in the U.S., stating, “A number of these people being executed are people that have been in the system for a long time. They’ve been on death row for a long time.” He further noted that political influences play a role in these decisions: “The most cynical view would be: it seems to matter to the president, so it matters to them.”
In his last words prior to his execution, Michael Bell thanked the justice system for not giving him a life term in prison.
“Thank you for not letting me spend the rest of my life in prison.” – Michael Bell
Bell’s case reveals the complicated relationship between capital punishment, retribution, and our system of justice. Ethics and effectiveness of the capital punishment are widely debated still today. His execution serves as a profound reminder of the impact and dangers of violence and it is our continued fight for justice on behalf of victims, survivors and their families.