Gray Rohrer
Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a warrant for the execution by lethal injection of Donald David Dillbeck, who was convicted in 1991 of the murder of Faye Vann the previous year. The execution is scheduled to take place Feb. 23 at 6 p.m.
The warrant is the fourth signed by DeSantis since he took office in January 2019.
The last warrant DeSantis signed didn’t result in an execution, however, as James Dailey was granted a stay of execution by a federal judge. Dailey was convicted of the 1985 murder of 14-year-old Shelly Boggio, but has maintained his innocence and said his conviction relied on the false testimony of a felon. The Florida Supreme Court has denied his appeals, however, and he remains on death row.
If Dillbeck is executed, it will mark three and a half years since the last one, the longest Florida has gone between executions since 1983. DeSantis’ record is far below that of his predecessors, who signed death warrants at a faster pace. DeSantis’ most recent predecessor, Rick Scott, now a U.S. Senator, set the record for Florida Governor since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, with 28 executions in eight years.
When asked about the gap between executions and the comparison to his predecessors by Florida Politics in September, DeSantis spokesman Bryan Griffin said such comparisons were “erroneous” because he was busy dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency for much of his first term. DeSantis lifted the state of emergency and all COVID-19 restrictions in May 2021.
Dillbeck was serving a sentence of 11 years to life for the killing of a Lee County Sheriff’s deputy in 1990 when he escaped from a work program at the Quincy Vocational Center and fled to nearby Tallahassee. He tried to get a ride from Faye Vann in the Tallahassee Mall parking lot and stabbed her 19 times when she resisted.
He was sentenced to death the following year after a jury voted 8-4 for the ultimate punishment. DeSantis on Monday suggested lawmakers should change the law to allow a supermajority of a jury to hand out a death sentence. The Legislature passed a law requiring a unanimous jury to impose the death penalty after the Florida Supreme Court ruled unanimous juries were required. But after DeSantis replaced several of the justices, the court reversed itself.
17 comments
Paul Passarelli
January 24, 2023 at 2:07 pm
So this Dillbeck killed a deputy in 1979 was only sentenced to 11 to life, but was in reduced security after the 11years. He escaped and killed again. So after 43 years in prison at the taxpayers expense, he’s *FINALLY* going to his eternal dirt nap.
Dillbeck was a sophomore in highschool when he stabbed a deputy sheriff. That’s a *SERIOUS* case of juvenile delinquency. Dillbeck should serve as proof positive that there are simply people are not deserving of the label ‘human being’. Simply being a member of the species ‘homo sapiens’, while it should grant one the benefit of the doubt, it is not a guarantee that that person is worthy of the benefits of civilized society. He’s proof that the rest of us would’ve been better off without him drawing breath 43 years ago.
But this all begs two additional question: How did he only get 11 years for the first killing? Why wasn’t he immediately put down following his second murder in 1991? That’s the kind of stupid shit I’d expect from my former home state of Connecticut.
j wright
January 25, 2023 at 1:30 am
Hear – Hear. Couldn’t have said it any better.
Tamara Lynne Hall
January 25, 2023 at 10:29 am
What they don’t tell you is he tried to escape numerous time and was still allowed on this program. He should have received death for murdering my father, Deputy Dwight Lynn Hall but because of his age at the time he did not receive the death penalty. I have waited for this day for many years. I was 9 when my father was murdered and this man was 15 when he killed him.
Tamara Lynne Hall
January 24, 2023 at 7:23 pm
When I received that phone call this morning from the Governor DeSantis office delivering this news I had to have her repeat what she said. This is a day I never thought would come. My life was changed in 1979 when this man shot and killed my father Deputy Dwight Lynn Hall. My life was forever changed. I have lived for so many years thinking that there will never be justice for my father and Faye Vann. It has been a long road, with to many pot holes and road blocks, but today they have all been removed. Donald Dillbeck now knows his fate.
j wright
January 25, 2023 at 1:34 am
let’s hope this coward is ready to meet the devil, it has to be done, like putting down a rabid Dog… ya got to do it for everyone to be safe. A killer is a predator they never stop till they Get stopped.
Ron DeSantis Sucks
January 25, 2023 at 3:45 am
Hasn’t this guy been in prison for years now? He hasn’t killed anyone since then, not sure how you can say that killing him makes the world safer.
Ron DeSantis Sucks
January 25, 2023 at 3:42 am
The death penalty is wrong and I am sad to see that the state has gone back to exercising it. It should be abolished.
Tamara Lynne Hall
January 25, 2023 at 10:25 am
Well this human murdered my father, Deputy Dwight Lynn Hall, for me it is way past time he faces this. I pray you never have your life turned upside down by some coward then have to pay to support him for over 30 years.
Ron DeSantis sucks
January 25, 2023 at 4:28 pm
Although I strongly oppose the death penalty, I certainly can’t blame you for your sentiment. I can’t imagine being in your shoes. If this will bring you closure, then I’m glad for you, even though I still wish the state wasn’t in the business of putting people to death.
Honestly, I feel like life in a maximum security prison is a fate worse than death.
Paul Passarelli
January 25, 2023 at 5:16 pm
you wrote: “Honestly, I feel like life in a maximum security prison is a fate worse than death.”
So in you mind that means a quick execution is actually an act of mercy?
The point is that a dangerous animal is being put down. Sometimes the best solution is to turn the page. His life is forfeit, whether he dies of old age or deliberate action, what is the difference in the long run? I’ll tell you, the victim’s families don’t have to think about their family member’s stolen life, while the killer gets three hots & a cot, and they can move on.
And again, we’re not talking about a kid who ‘made a mistake’ and ’caused a death’. I have a friend back in CT who was driving a commercial truck that was in disrepair. His boss overloaded the rig and *he* caused the death of an innocent person in an MVA. He was charged with VH, but acquitted. But in the end it was still his ‘mistake’ & his ‘hands’ that killed an innocent bystander. That weighs on him to this day.
We’re talking about a juvenile delinquent with a knife, who stabbed a deputy, and then murdered another woman.
I have no dog in this fight. I do have strong opinions because as an observer I see that when the waters get muddied, so many people are afraid to do what is necessary and yield to those that make the most ‘noise’. In this case it was most assuredly the do-gooders that saw a ‘kid’ and turned a blind eye to the fact that he was probably a psychopath even back then. I saw that because he’s just a year older than me. And so I was there in the late 70s. I remember the ‘lay of the land’ I remember the ‘ways of the world’, and I knew kids that carried that level of anger, and were capable of that level of violence.
And now I bid you adieu,
Ron DeSantis Sucks
January 25, 2023 at 5:59 pm
I think a quick execution could be considered a better fate than being stuck in a maximum security prison, spending 23 hours a day in a cell and having every day be exactly the same, yes.
The thing is, if Florida didn’t have the death penalty, the family members wouldn’t be reminded that he even exists; he would be in a prison and that would be that. If the death penalty was not an option, there would be nothing more to do. Now though, the family members have to go through each layer of state and federal appeals and then be reminded that he exists. I’m not sure that’s “moving on”.
Paul Passarelli
January 26, 2023 at 11:59 am
RDS:
You’ve been asked in another thread if you are ‘unaware’.
I think that is the best description anyone can give about the clueless Leftists that plague our society.
Now go away you George Soros inspired Fake Alias Troll.
Ron DeSantis Sucks
January 26, 2023 at 6:21 pm
Ah, there’s the name calling. The politeness was fun while it lasted. But of course I should have known better than to think that a Conservative could go more than 48 hours without insulting someone. Ah well, c’est la vie.
Paul Passarelli
January 26, 2023 at 7:08 pm
@RDS:
Bullshit! You’ve got a lot or nerve to act offended.
Your Fake Alias is inflammatory name calling right off the bat. You were handled with far more politeness than you deserved. Your responses quite literally demonstrated a staggering level of cluelessness, that talking to you was akin to talking to a wall.
BTW, I was not the one who made the “unaware” remark. But it was so apropos given the points you tried to make in that other thread. When I read it, I knew it was the perfect description for a poster that *REFUSES* to acknowledge the facts.
So again I say go away you George Soros inspired Fake Alias Troll. C’est la guerre!
Ron DeSantis Sucks
January 27, 2023 at 5:53 pm
Ah, more name calling. The last refuge of the intellectually inferior.
Robert
January 25, 2023 at 11:57 pm
Why should tax payers pay for an animal to be locked up for life when they can’t be rehabilitated.
Ron DeSantis Sucks
January 30, 2023 at 12:08 am
Because it’s cheaper than the appeals process.
Comments are closed.