'Morbidly obese' Florida man who admitted to killing Miami Herald employee executed Tuesday
A Florida death row prisoner, whose legal challenge citing his "morbidly obese" condition was recently dismissed by the Florida Supreme Court, died by lethal injection on Tuesday evening. Michael Tanzi, 48, was declared dead at 6:12 p.m. at Florida State Prison for the April 2000 abduction and killing of Janet Acosta, who worked in production at The Miami Herald.
In his last words, Tanzi expressed remorse to Acosta's family and quoted from the Bible, according to The Associated Press. His death came three minutes later.
Tanzi reportedly assaulted, robbed and choked Acosta before abandoning her body in the Florida Keys.
Tanzi received a death sentence after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, carjacking, kidnapping and armed robbery. His lawyers' appeals were unsuccessful, including the most recent one that mentioned Tanzi's "morbidly obese" weight and sciatica, which they claimed might cause "unconstitutional levels of pain," the AP reported.
The court ruled this appeal came too late because Tanzi's health issues were documented since 2009, and pointed out that similar weight-based appeals had been previously rejected.
Ted Veerman, a Corrections Department representative, told the AP that Tanzi woke at 4:45 a.m. and spent time with a spiritual adviser before receiving his final meal.
Tanzi approached Acosta during her break in her van on April 25, 2000. After striking her face, he drove to Homestead while restraining her wrist and threatening her with a razor blade, according to the AP.
He stopped at a gas station where he took her money, robbed and gagged her. Tanzi then continued to the Florida Keys, where he used her debit card to buy duct tape and razor blades, court records show.
A summary from the state Commission on Capital Cases stated Tanzi drove to a remote area in Cudjoe Key, told Acosta he would kill her, and strangled her.
"He stopped to place duct tape over her mouth, nose and eyes to quiet her and then strangled her until she died," the summary explained.
Friends and coworkers reported Acosta missing, which led to the discovery of her van in Key West.
Tanzi later admitted to the crime and guided police to Acosta's body.
"If I had let her go, I was gonna get caught quicker," Tanzi told officers, according to court documents. "I didn't want to get caught. I was having too much fun... I told her, I says, 'I can't let you go.'"
Tanzi continued, "If I release you, I'll face serious consequences."
Just weeks earlier, a South Carolina convict who killed his former girlfriend's parents with a baseball bat in 2001 died by firing squad, a method unused in the United States for 15 years. Brad Sigmon, 67, selected firing squad execution due to concerns about lethal injection, as previously noted by Fox News Digital.
Shortly before Sigmon's execution, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an urgent request to halt the procedure because of South Carolina's confidential lethal injection protocols.
