Florida puts a man to death for killing 2 outside a bar, the 26th U.S. execution this year

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

STARKE, Fla. — A man convicted of fatally shooting two people outside a Florida bar in 1993 as part of an attempted revenge killing was executed Tuesday evening, the 26th person put to death in the U.S. this year.

Michael Bernard Bell, 54, was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m. after receiving a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, said Bryan Griffin, a spokesperson for Gov. Ron DeSantis. Bell was convicted in 1995 and sentenced to death for the murders of Jimmy West and Tamecka Smith.

When the team warden asked Bell if he had any final words, he responded, “Thank you for not letting me spend the rest of my life in prison.”

Strapped to a gurney, Bell was alert and looking around the death chamber as the drugs began to flow into his outstretched left arm. After about 2 minutes, he closed his eyes and stopped moving. His breathing became more labored for about a minute and then slowed.

At 6:15 p.m., the team warden checked Bell’s eyes and shouted his name, but there was no response. The color began to drain from Bell’s face about 6:20 p.m. A medical worker entered the chamber at 6:24 p.m. and declared Bell dead a minute later.

With Bell’s death, the number of executions in the U.S. surpassed last year’s total with more than five months left on the calendar. The number of executions has largely trended downward nationally this century after peaking with 98 in 1999. From 1995 to 2006, there was an average of about 67 executions per year.

John Blume, the director of the Cornell Death Penalty Project, says the uptick in executions doesn’t appear to be linked to a change in public support for the death penalty or an increase in the rate of death sentences, but is rather the function of the discretion of state governors.

“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,” Blume said, adding that there are aggressive executives and attorney generals “who want to execute these people.”

He pointed to a sweeping executive order signed by President Donald Trump on his first day back in office aimed at urging prosecutors to seek the death penalty and preserving capital punishment in the states.

“The most cynical view would be: It seems to matter to the president, so it matters to them,” Blume said of the governors.

Florida Department of Corrections spokesperson Ted Veerman said Tuesday that the department was well-prepared to do its duty as assigned by the courts and the governor.

Bell is the eighth person executed in Florida this year, with a ninth scheduled for later this month. The state executed six people in 2023 but only one last year.

Florida has executed more people than any other state this year, with Texas and South Carolina tied for second place at four each. Alabama has executed three people, Oklahoma has killed two, and Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee each have killed one.

In December 1993, Bell spotted what he thought was the car of the man who fatally shot his brother earlier that year, according to court records. Bell was apparently unaware that the man had sold the car to West.

Bell called on two friends and armed himself with an AK-47 rifle, authorities said. They found the car parked outside a liquor lounge and waited. When West, Smith and another woman eventually exited the club, Bell approached the car and opened fire, officials said.

West died at the scene, and Smith died on the way to the hospital. The other woman escaped injury. Witnesses said Bell also fired at a crowd of onlookers before fleeing the area. He was eventually arrested the next year.

Bell was later convicted of three additional murders — a woman and her toddler son in 1989 and his mother’s boyfriend about four months before the attack on West and Smith.

Prison officials said Bell woke up at 6:30 a.m. and ate his last meal, which was an omelet, bacon, home fries and orange juice. He met with a spiritual adviser but did not have any other visitors.

His lawyers argued in their state filing that Bell’s execution should be halted because of newly discovered evidence about witness testimony. But justices unanimously rejected the argument last week and pointed to overwhelming evidence of Bell’s guilt.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied Bell’s request to stay the execution Tuesday.

David Fischer, The Associated Press

Associated Press reporters Kate Payne in Tallahassee, Fla., and Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.