Death Watch journal (part 16)

As I write this, it has now been 10 weeks since the Florida Supreme court ordered an indefinite stay of my previously scheduled execution pending judicial review of whether or not my death sentence remains legal under the United States Supreme Court's January 2016 decision in Hurst v. Florida, in which the highest court declared Florida's death penalty process illegal because it allowed a judge and not the jury, to ultimately determine what the sentence would be.

Nobody knows when the Florida Supreme Court will decide this issue, or how they will rule when they do...all we can do is wait it out and until then I will remain under an active death warrant.

So, this week I would like to address another matter - the systemic denial of adequate medical care in the Florida prison system. Generally, I don't talk about my own health problems as it's not something I want to put out there for public consumption. But like so many others here at Florida State Prison - and the Florida prison system as a whole - it's gotten so bad that I must address it and ask for help from those who are reading this.

It's an undisputed fact that many years ago while serving in the Army I had an on-duty accident that resulted in a lengthy hospitalization and my honorable discharge. I am now a legally recognized "disabled veteran" and suffer a permanent physical disability recognized as "degenerative disc disease" in the lower lumbar spine, and "lumbar radiculopathy" with incomplete mild paralysis. What this means in layman's terms is that when I suffered this accident, it resulted in permanent and progressively degenerate damage to my spinal cord that produces often extreme physical pain.

In the many years that I've been in the Florida prison system I have come to accept that the best I can hope for is minimal treatment. If I'm lucky, I can get non-narcotic pain medication to try to manage the pain. Generally, that means a prescription of extra strength Ibuprofen or Naproxen. Being that I am in prison, they're not going to prescribe anything stronger so the most I can do is try to manage the pain, mostly by avoiding physical exertions that would cause a flare-up.

As my condition predictably progressed through the years, so too has the now almost constant pain substantially increased to the extent that even the Naproxen or Ibuprofen have little effect. Again, I generally accept that this is prison and they are not going to do anything more than the minimum. However, shortly after my death warrant was signed and I was transferred to Florida State Prison, I began having problems getting even the Naproxen that that I regularly received, and the Flexeril that I received as a muscle relaxer so that the muscle spasms regularly suffer will settle down enough so that at least I can sleep at night.

The thing is, I'm not alone, since Florida contracted prison medical care to a private company called 'Corizon", which is a for-profit healthcare provider with a long history of denying adequate health care, complaints such as mine have become only too common. These privately contracted health care providers get paid the same whether they actually provide adequate health care or not and so every dollar they spend providing treatments, or even prescribing medication, takes money out of their own pockets and for-profit companies cannot stay in business long if they don't make a profit.

This point needs to be addressed momentarily - the reason America has the highest incarceration rate in the world today is because the American prison system is a for-profit multibillion-dollar industry, and there are thousands of companies that compete for contracts to provide services to prisoners, from sypplying toilet paper, food, health care - even running entire prisons. Most would argue that that doesn't make any sense as prisons cost taxpayers billions of dollars each year.

However, while the taxpayers to pay obscene amounts of money to keep all those prisoners locked up, what is not as obvious is that companies wanting to provide services to this prison industry win the contract by donating huge sums of money to politicians running for office. And when the politicians win elected office, they reward their benefactors with lucrative contracts, only too often amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. That's how the system really works.

Companies like Corizon have a long history of being rewarded contracts to provide health care only to then refuse to provide basic health care as a means of increasing their own profits. In fact, Corizon itself previously went by another corporate name that was awarded a contract to provide medical care to Florida prisoners and provided such deliberately incompetence care that prisoners died, and the contract was terminated...the company then changed the name of the corporation to Corizon, donated huge sums of money to State politicians running for election, and got the contract back.

In the past year the health care provided by Corizon has gotten so bad that again  many prisoners died from being denied adequate medical care. Only after the media made it a story did the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and the Florida legislature open investigations into the systematic deprivation of adequate health care in Florida prisons. Not surprisingly, neither the FDLE or the Florida legislative actually did anything - not a single person within the Corizon corporation was held responsible for the many inmate deaths resulting from the deliberate denial of adequate medical care..not even one! As soon as the mainstream media lost interest, the whole issue quickly died. 

                                                                 

That's how healthcare in American prisons system really works - it's a completely corrupt process in which the only thing that matters is that the company awarded the contract makes millions while the prisoners suffer and die - and since we are prisoners nobody really cares.

Back to my own problems with receiving even minimal medical care. After my death warrant was signed and I was transferred to Florida State Prison, my prescription "expired" and the doctor simply refused to renew them. They play all kind of games to try to blame the prisonor for the denial of adequate medical care. In my case,  they said that before my prescriptions could be renewed, I needed to have a blood test, and in late February 2016 I had the blood taken, then was seen by "dr. Lee", who refused to renew my medication. I then took the matter to the Florida state prison Warden, who tried to help - only to have the Corizon-employed Health Services administrator blatantly lie to the Warden, telling him that I refused to the blood test, claiming instead that I was seen on March 17th, 2016 and counseled on the importance of providing blood test.

These are the games they play. Anytime you file a formal grievance about the denial of adequate medical care it comes back with the same response - put in a request for "sick call" (the process available to seek medical care). But as with me, and most others, I did put in numerous "sick call" requests, but the Corizon staff will then wait up to several weeks and then do nothing but talk to you at cell front, and they'll tell you to put in another "sick call" request, then another - and if you're lucky several months later you might actually see a doctor, who will then tell you that you need to do another "updated" blood test before medication can be prescribed, and ofter you wait for weeks to have that done, they'll claim you "refused" to do the blood test, and you must start the whole process over again. Of course, they can never produce a signed 'refusal' form as you didn't refuse.

For months now this is what I've been going through - it is what so many others also go through, with many prisoners being forced to suffer, in prolonged physical pain, or even dying. I've been going through this malicious merry-go-round of deliberate denial of basic medical treatment now for over 2 months and still not receiving the medications I need to manage my chronic physical pain. For this reason, as my last available means, I'm asking your help in attempting to compell the Florida Department of Corrections to provide proper medical care. I would ask that you please email Mrs Julie Jones, Secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections (email:  jones.julie@mail.dc.state.fl.us ), and Dr. Ogunsanwo, Assistant Secretary, Medical and Health Services ( email: ogunsanwo.olugbenga@mail.dc.state.fl.us ), and ask them to initiate an investigation into the deliberate denial of adequate medical care to inmate Michael Lambrix #482053 at Florida State Prison, who is a legally recognized disabled veteran being denied medications necessary to manage his chronic physical pain.

Death Watch journal (Part 15)

My kingdom for a cup of hot coffee - really, is that too much to ask for? I guess in all fairness I can't really blame anyone for not wanting my kingdom of steel and stone since it does kind of suck. But then there's the few simple pleasures even a condemned man can almost take for granted and for too many years every morning I will awake early, hours before most others around me, so that I can enjoy those few hours of relative quiet as I sit at my so-called "desk" and begin my day by writing whatever it is that has to be written that day as I sip from a nearby cup of coffee.

Sometimes I will already be long at work even before the sun comes up and as I sit at that desk I will watch out that distant dusty window on the outer catwalk as the new day gives way to sunlight, and imagine that I can actually see the sunrise itself, although I can't. At most, I can see the shadows as they appear on the adjacent wing across that narrow strip of grass that separates one cell block wing from another...and as I do, I'll slowly sip from that cup of coffee.

This is the time of day that I like to write those closest to me, and as I write whatever letter I'm writing I will place a picture of the person against my wall only inches away so that I can see their face as I write and it gives me a feeling that in some small way I am with them. And as I do, I drink a lot of coffee and will go through two or even three cups of coffee in those early morning hours that I cherish so much.

As the morning progresses the cellblock around me will slowly come to life, at first through the sound of the first one, then another and all too soon many more flushing toilets - and thank God for whoever it was who invented the flushing toilet as during the colder months all the windows are closed and the ventilation fans turned off and with a hundred other men living in too close proximity to me, absent that ability to flush, the cellblock would quickly become pretty rank in no time at all. And having to live with the smell of many men relieving themselves would seriously compromise the pleasure of my cup of coffee.

                                                               

But for other reasons, it's been a bad week as the hot water went out and for days I could not have that most simple of pleasures -  my ritualistic morning cup of coffee. Don't get me wrong - I didn't actually go without my coffee, as I'm the first to admit that I'm a caffeine junkie and can't even function without that cup of coffee. To give you a good idea of just how bad I got for my beloved caffeine, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to picture me waking up early each morning all but rolling out of my bunk and staggering those few steps to the sink to first splash a bit of cold water on my face so the small world around me will come into focus, and then push the hot water on as it has to run for a few minutes before it will even get warm.

And as that water runs in the sink, I've been known to put my MP3 player on, pushing the earbutts into each ear and crank the volume all the way up to the song "Cocaine" by Eric Clapton, and then in nothing more than my state issued white boxer shorts, I will kind of dance while whispering along with that song - except every time they say the word "cocaine", I substitute it for the word "caffeine". "If you wanna hang out, you got to take her out...caffeine - if you wanna get down, down on the ground..caffeine" (I'll be damned, I think I finally figured out why I regularly get hit with random drug test - which I have never once failed in the past 20-plus years...but it's starting to make sense why they want me to piss in that little plastic cup a lot more than most of the guys around me!) Oh yeah - and a shout out to Eric Clapton...you are a guitar God! :)

So where was I? Oh, yeah - they seriously screwed up my morning coffee ritual this past week when the hot water suddenly went out, and I had no way to get even a cup  of barely warm coffee. And that sucked! All I could do was make my coffee with cold water, and it just isn't the same. Each week I buy, beg or borrow a couple of 4 ounce bags of generic instant coffee and it's already of poor quality but gets that much worse when all I got is cold water to make it with.

I guess I really shouldn't complain though...there's billions of people around the world that don't have any coffee at all and here I am a condemned man waiting to be put to death and I've got nothing better to do than whine about not having a cup of hot coffee? And I'm not really fooling anyone either, as those that really know me know that if they turned the water off altogether I would still figure out a way to get my caffeine fix, even if it meant having to pour that dark powder out into neatly sculpted lines on my so-called desk and snorting it up dry.  yeah, I think we can all agree that I'm an unabashed caffeine junkie and damned proud of it - and most of those reading this can relate, if you're a coffee junkie too!

The truth of the matter is that even on the best of days the most I can hope for is a cup of almost hot, but not quite, coffee as the water in the sink really doesn't get hot - that would be a threat to security as we live in a world where the word "security" is too often thrown up to justify depriving us of even the most simple pleasures. The powers that be have decided that if the temperature of the water is turned up too high to where it might actually be hot, we could use it as a weapon by throwing this hot water on the guards. Of course, that has never happened on death row, but what's reality got to do with it when the true objective of the American prison system is to keep prisoners as miserable as possible and declaring hot water a security risk is only one of an infinite ways they will grossly exaggerated "security concerns"..that's all part of doing time and you just got to roll with it.

But for me, the past week wasn't all that good as I really do miss my morning cups of warm coffee. But I might note that with the hot water gone that also meant very cold showers too. Some might think that can't be too bad since I'm in Florida, but believe me, Florida does get really cold too. The death row units are up in North Florida, not far from the Georgia line, and even this week, in early April, it's going down to almost freezing.

The thing is, this creates somewhat of a paradox - I can deal with a cold shower, and often have, as long as I can have my cup of coffee. In fact, the tier that I'm housed onoften has cold showers as by law they must have one shower on each wing that runs only cold water so that when "chemical agents" are used on prisoners - which happens frequently here at Florida State Prison, the inmate who was a "gassed" must be allowed to take a cold shower to wash the pepper spray off - hot water will cause the liberally used chemical agents to burn. So, sometimes the only thing we get is a cold shower - but at least then when I go back to my cell I can make a cup of coffee.

Presumably, they'll fix the water in a few days and now at least I have something to look forward to. And as I await the uncertainty of my fate, not knowing if any day now the governor will reschedule my execution once again, I hope you'll forgive me if this opportunity, to whine just a bit about not having a cup of hot coffee, provides me with a much-needed momentary distraction

 

Death Watch Journal (part 14)

That cloud of uncertainty continues to hang over my head as we await word on what the courts will do about the question of whether the Supreme Court's decision in Hurst v. Florida (January, 2016) should be retroactively applied to all Florida cases...a decision that may very well decide whether I and many others will live or die.

As of this week I have now been in continuous solitary confinement on Florida's death row for 32 years (I was charged and arrested this case in March 1983 but was not convicted and sentenced to death until March, 1984) In that I am now at Florida State Prison, where those first coming to death row are initially housed, I'm surrounded by many relatively recent "new gains" that was significantly younger than the average death row prisoners - those such as me. They inevitably ask me how long I've been here and when I say "32 years", I smile when they immediately respond "damned bro - that's longer than I've been alive!". Yeah that's just what it comes down to... I have been in solitary confinement under sentence of death now for what amounts to an entire lifetime.

But let's keep this in context..This week I "celebrated" my 56th birthday. I was only 22 years old when I was arrested on this case. Once upon a time I was married and I've got three children, obviously now all grown. As I look into my little plastic mirror and can't help but notice that what hair is not slowly turning gray has already fallen out, I smile as I think that I now have seven grandchildren. That person I was when I was 22 could never have imagined one day waking up and realizing that I'm now a grandpa.

If the State of Florida had its way, I would never have seen my 56th birthday as they never intended to allow me to live beyond February 11, 2016. That was the day they planned to put me to death by lethal injection. And even now I'm in limbo - if the courts rule against me in coming weeks, or months, then the governor will quickly set a new execution date and I will go back down to the bottom floor of "Q-wing" and count down those final days as I've already done 3 times before.

So, how do you celebrate a birthday that wasn't meant to be? There are many who I wish I could spend my birthday with, such as all my friends who sent me birthday cards and best wishes - I wish I could give each and everyone a big hug as it's hard to put into words just how much it means to get a simple card and know that even when you are marked for death by society, there's still that measure of mercy and compassion that gives even a condemned man hope. Too often, when I feel overwhelmed by circumstances around us, it's easy to forget that the whole world isn't trying to kill us.

For those who sent me cards, some that came from complete strangers that didn't even give their name, I truly do thank you. I wish I could throw a big birthday party, not to celebrate my so-called life, as in truth I don't have much of a life to celebrate here in this six-foor concrete and steel cage. Rather, I'd want to celebrate that measure of humanity within those that do reach out in spite of society's demand that we be cast aside and marked for death.

I am reminded of that scene in the Mel Gibson movie "Passion of Christ" where there on the hillside stood those three crosses of Calvary - in the center, Jesus was crucified but to each side of him were common criminals. And all around the crowd gathered, filled with hate and demanding nothing less than death. But then there were the few who suffered the loss of someone they so dearly loved and that moment of compassion became more powerful than all the hate the crowds could muster.

On my birthday I don't celebrate my life, but rather I celebrate those who despite circumstances selflessly reach out in compassion and mercy to offer a few words of good will. They sustain our hope and give us the strength to continue this journey to whatever end will be.

As I write this, today is Easter Sunday - two days before my birthday and the gift I received was truly special...I got to spend the day with my daughter. For only the second time in 32 years it was just me and her. You see, my daughter Jennifer suffered of trauma during childbirth that left her mentally disabled. Despite her handicap, she struggles to live independently and almost 10 years ago married someone and they now have two children.

Life has been anything but easy on them and every day is a struggle - like so many here in America they are poor and little hope of overcoming their circumstances. But I remain inspired as despite the odds against her, my daughter Jennifer doesn't give up.. and she never becomes bitter of how unfair life has been. And she isn't capable of hate or all the destructive traits we see in the world around us.

Everyday she is judged by others around her for what they see, rather than what they know. And yet she responds with a childlike love. As I walked into the death row visiting park today and she came through the door the visitors come through, her face lit up with a smile that comes from the heart and although it's been years since I was last able to hug her, she immediately gave me the biggest hug I've had in a long time and she said: "I love you Daddy" and that almost made me cry. I've been here on Florida's death row since she was 4 years old. And although too many years pass between those hugs, each seems like it was just yesterday.

In a couple of days I will have my birthday and as I do, I want to think about all those who kept me going through their support. And as we all wait for the decision from the courts, I will be grateful for the small things that give even my so-called life meaning..while many may gather outside the prison to celebrate my death, if that day comes, there will still be those who have only compassion in their hearts, and there will be that hug that a father gets from his child. And it's in those moments that even my own struggle not to succumb to anger and drown myself in the negativity of my circumstances that I'm able to rise above it all and bask in that fellowship that comes from those who so selflessly reach out to me.

And so that's all I want for my birthday - the chance to give each of you a big hug and to thank each of you for being a true friend.

Death Watch Journal (part 13)

At what point does it get kind of old to keep beginning its blog with the same story. I'm still on "death watch" and technically under an active death warrant. My previously scheduled execution date of February 11th has now passed by and it's been a month since the Florida Supreme Court issued that order of  a temporary stay, as they continue to consider whether they will apply the January 12 Hurst versus Florida decision declaring Florida's death penalty process unconstitutional and retroactively to older cases such as mine.  I still wake each day mindful of the truth that at any time the court could rule and deny relief - and just that quickly I would be moved back down to the bottom floor of Q-wing and begin to once again count down the days until my appointed death by execution. 

For all the talk about how the execution process might inflict a constitutionally intolerable measure of "cruel and unusual punishment" such as the possibility of a botched execution, I find it incredible that nobody wants to talk about the undeniable psychological trauma inflicted upon the condemned through a process that only too often brings us to that very edge of death's door, only to then "stay" the execution and put you in indefinite limbo as you await word of whether you will live or die. I really just don't get it.

Why is that undeniable trauma amounting to psychological torture is not even being discussed? If someone put a gun to your head and began to pull the trigger again and again, each time having it fall on to an empty chamber would anyone deny that to be psychologically traumatic? Assuming for the moment that it was all just a malicious game of Russian Roulette and there never was any real bullet in the chamber, wouldn't most people still have nightmares many years later? Yet isn't that exactly what the state of Florida is doing when they have me (and others) brought to the brink of death only to pull up at the last moment and say "come back later and we'll try again".

At what point does it cross the line of moral principles that presumably define a civilized society? Don't get me wrong, obviously I'm glad I'm still alive but at the same time this continued anxiety and that uncertainty of whether I will live or die weighs heavily upon not only me, but my family and friends too. I know there are some out there who truly believe in their own demented mind that the more a condemned prisoner suffers the better and yet these self righteous stone throwers want to call me a monster and maybe that's what they need to do to justify the evil within their own heart.

                                                                     

This month marks 32 years now that I've been in continuous solitary confinement condemned to death and three times now I've been scheduled for execution only to be told to come back later. I've ordered my last meal and prepared my last statement which, I might note now that I haven't had the opportunity to say it, would have been borrowed from Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher and father of democracy, and what he said when he too was condemned to death for a crime without legal justification ...."to which of us  go the worst fate, you or I?

I hope you'll take a moment to think about that ...the State of Florida continues to pursue my execution despite my innocence. And just as we live in a society that pretentiously prides itself on being that beacon of human rights for all the world to see, if I've learned nothing else in the over 3 decades that I've been convicted and condemned to death for a crime I did not commit, it's that as a society, we really don't care if innocent people are put to death.

Fortunately there are some who are morally outraged that our society would even risk putting one innocent person to death. But even as oud as they try to scream, their voices are drowned out by the larger crowd that only too quickly gathers to demand nothing less than an expedited execution - and innocence be damned.

A friend recently asked me how do I keep my hope alive - after all this time, why haven't I simply surrendered to my seemingly inevitable fate, and I found myself struggling to find an answer. Why haven't I simply given up as so many others have already? To borrow from an obviously appropriate analogy I'm already cast out upon the open sea struggling to tread water when in truth as each day passes into yet another night and when I awake again, there's still no sign of either land or light on that distant horizon, why not just stop struggling and embrace my inevitable fate, and allow myself to sink beneath the surface and surrender to death.

And then I pull out the pictures of my children, and now my grandchildren, and my parents and my family and friends who have so faithfully stood by my side through all of this and I'm reminded why I continue to fight even when I've grown weak and I want so much to simply surrender and to bring an end to this never-ending nightmare, my strength is renewed when I look upon their pictures and I know that even when I can no longer fight this fight for myself, I can still fight for them.

The truth is that I haven't been dealing so well with this perpetual state of lethal limbo and trap I'm trapped in and that uncertainty of whether I will live or die has taken its toll. I don't like to admit it, but there's a part of me that wishes that I died as scheduled on February 11th and I'm tired of this, so very tired of this never-ending fight. And when I find myself awake in the middle of the night struggling to choke back tears and  angry at myself for allowing such emotions to overcome me, I find that I'm not crying for myself but for the pain that all of this is putting my family and friends through as they've done nothing to deserve any of this, and yet my death would be an even greater loss to them.

However recently someone who is special to me shared a personal story from her own life, how in the not-so-distant past her life spiraled into a seemingly impossible self-destructive cycle that brought her to the point where she overdosed on drugs and at least for a moment died, only to be revived in the back of an ambulance on the way to the hospital.  And in that moment of clarity between mortality and dead, her first thought was not of herself, or the misery that had become her own life, but of her children and how much it would hurt them to lose their mother and she found the strength to recover and never again surrender to hopelessness and despair through the use of drugs. Her words touched me and how I wish I could have given her a big hug for that. It made me realize that I'm not ready to die, and this fight I fight isn't about me, as what I'm really fighting for is for those who have stood by me so long, those who have so faithfully stood by my side and believed in me even when I no longer held the strength to believe in myself.

At the end of the day what sustains our strength does not come from us alone as although it's only too easy to feel that alone the true substance of our existence is defined by something so much greater than ourselves - our will to survive is nurtured by the love of those who sustain us.

Death row inmate Michael Lambrix awaits fate from court: 'It's my last hope' - Tampa Bay Times

Michael Lambrix has spent a lifetime on death row, successfully dodging his execution over a period of three decades and six governors, with the help of timely intervention by the courts.
In his latest case of good timing, he might even outlast the system that produced his death sentence.
Lambrix, 56, a Plant City High dropout and U.S. Army veteran convicted of two killings, is at the center of an epic legal challenge to Florida's death penalty sentencing system.
He's the first inmate to have his execution halted after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Hurst vs. Florida which struck down the state's death penalty sentencing system as a violation of the right to trial by jury, which forced the Legislature to rewrite the law.

Read the article in the Tampa Bay Times HERE
                                                                     

Open Letter to the Editor of "The Independent Florida Alligator"

Never before have I been compelled to respond to a newspaper article in this manner - but then, any newspaper that was committed to the basic values of journalistici integrity would never has published the kind of article that The Independent Florida Alligator published in the February 29th 2016 edition.

Lawyers always tell their clients not to talk to the media and generally this is good advice. In the 32 years since I've been on Florida's death row for a crime I am innocent of (see, www.southerninjustice.net ) I have almost without exception followed that advice. But when Florida Governor Rick Scott signed my death warrant on November 30th 2015, within hours after the US Supreme Court declined review of my actual innocence claim, and scheduled my execution for February 11th 2016, I decided that against council's advice I would cooperate with the media. One of the so-called journalists that reached out to me was Martin Vassolo, who introduced himself as a staff writer for the University of Florida campus newspaper "The Independent Alligator".  He did not conduct a formal interview but instead mailed me hand written questions.

I have a lot of respect for journalism schools and the commitment that many students have shown in the almost extinct science of true investigative journalism. As a death sentence prisoners I am reminded that it was a journalism class at Northeastern University that took it upon himself to thoroughly investigate every death row case in Illinois, discovering widespread evidence of prosecutional misconduct and exposed the innocence of at least 9 death row prisoners. As a direct result of that commitment to the true spirit of investigative journalism not only were those 9 wrongfully convicted and condemned prisoners of Illinois death row exonorated and released but the governor (Ryan) then ordered a commission to study the entire Illinois death penalty.  After that study, because of widespread flaws in how capital cases were handled, Illinois vacated every death sentence and executions stopped.

So, when I received a letter from Martin Vassolo asking me to respond to his questions, including about my consistently pled claim of innocence, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Although still a student, I assumed that he at least was familiar with principles of journalistic integrity -  or would have a responsible editor overseeing his work prior to publication. Imagine my surprise when I read the February 29th, 2016 article "From death row: the hope for freedom as a local inmate reaches out",  published in The Independent Alligator, although it certainly would have been more at home in the back pages of the National Enquirer.

                                                                 

Had I known that The Independent Alligator condones cheap tabloid sensationalism under the pretense of journalism, I certainly would never have responded to Martin Vassolo. Keep in mind that at the time I did respond I was waiting down the days to my scheduled execution (you can read my weekly death watch journals at http://deathrowjournals.blogspot.com/ and I was - and still am - quite literally fighting for my life.

While some of the largest newspapers in Florida fairly weighed the evidence substantiating my innocence, the "Alligator" instead took it upon themselves to exploit my desperation to prevent my execution for a crime I did not commit. Rather then objectively investigating the actual facts relevant to my case, as reflected in readily available court records, Martin Vassolo instead choose to write, and I quote "What do Ted Bundy and Michael Lambrix have in common? They both have pleasant faces, eloquent vocabularies and plausible stories...however, neither is innocent!

To reach this conclusion, rather then contact any of the prosecutors who actually were involved in my case, Martin Vassolo only reached out to none other than George Dekle, a prosecutor who's only claim to fame is that long ago he "helped put Ted Bundy to jail"

Let me emphasize, this particular prosecutor had absolutely nothing to do with my case - Mr Dekle has no knowledge of the evidence in my case, or the substantial and readily available evidence supporting my innocence. There was absolutely no reason to reach out to Mr Dekle but to shamelessly sensationalize the story by erecting a completely fictious connection between my case and that of Ted Bundy's.

But why would someone who aspires to be a credible journalist - or an editor who actually embraces basic concepts of of journalistic integrity - resort to such pathetic tabloid sensationalism? Does this form of journalism really reflect the values taught by the journalism school at the University of Florida?

I suppose only Martin Vassolo and his editor can answer that question, and for the record, that question was asked of Mr Vassolo, to which his reply was, and I quote: " In my article I aimed for balance. I told both sides of the story...all need to be considered fairly and in an unbiased manner".

Well, that certainly is a mouthful - you just got to love it when wannabe journalists already learned the art of speaking with a forked tongue. Mr Vassolo's article was anything but "fair and unbiased" and he certainly made no meaningful attempts to tell the whole story.

For example, Mr Vassolo made no mention of the indisputed fact that that the entire wholly circumstantial (i.e, no eyewitnesses, no physical or forensic evidence, no confessions etc) theory of alleged premeditated murder was based on the self serving testimony of a single key witness, Frances Smith, who only went to law enforcement after she was arrested on unrelated charges, while in the exclusive possession of the victim's vehicle. Even then Smith gave law enforcement numerous conflicting stories and failed a polygraph test. But based on legal technicalities the jury was not allowed to hear about Smith's other stories, or that she failed a polygraph test. The first trial ended in a "hung" jury.

The only witness that coroborated Frances Smith's story was Deborah Hanzel, but years after that trial Hanzel unequivocally recanted, testifying under oath that Frances Smith and the prosecutor's lead investigator Miles Daniels had coerced her to provide that false testimony...it was then revealed that Smith and Daniels were having an illicit sexual relationship when the case was prosecuted. As if that wasn't enough, it was subsequently discovered that the prosecutor deliberately concealed numerous hairs found on the alleged murder weapon that the state has conceded belong to none other than Frances Smith.

But let's get back to what Mr Vassolo actually did write about - how he solicited comments from former prosecutor George Dekle, that "Lambrix could not have acted in self defence..because one hit from the tire iron would have left Moore unconcious rather than dead". What is especially troubling about this presumably "qualified" comment is that it's clear that  Mr Dekle made no attempt to actually look into the official autopsy report, and nor did Martin Vassolo.

Had either Vassolo or Dekle actually looked at the autopsy report, or read the testimony of the State's own medical examiner, they would have known that the State's own evidence shows that the deceased Moore was struck in the temporal forehead, at an angle consistent with Moore being the aggressor, a fact further supported by the virtual absence of any "defence wounds" - which is why the prosecutors familiar with this case reluctantly concede that the State's own evidence is consistent with my claim of being compelled to act in self defence.

But neither Martin Vassolo or the Independent Alligator had any intentions of actually looking at the readily available facts, or do an objective article - rather they only too readily embraced the lowest form of journalism - tabloid sensationalism, irreparably undermining the the integrity of the newspapers as a whole. This paper represents the student body of the University of Florida, and every student, especially those that aspire to be credible journalists - should be outraged by the article that Martin Vassolo wrote.

Note from Mike

Thank you for all your comments, both on my blog and my website, and the cards and letters I received, and I am both touched and grateful for all the thoughts and prayers. Some of you remained confused as to why I continue to write "death watch" blogs when the court gave me a stay of execution on February 2, 2016. The reason I contiue to write is because I am still on death watch - I only received a temporary stay of execution pending review by the Florida Supreme Court. At anytime the court could rule against me and a new execution date will be scheduled.  But to be clear, I am still under an active death warrant and the threat of execution hangs over me. Hopefully the court will rule favorably as if I win this legal issue then all prisoners on Florida's death row will win too. But in coming days, or weeks, if the court rules against me then a new execution date will be scheduled.

Letter from Q-wing - Part XII of Death Watch Series

As of this week it's been a month since I was moved back to the regular death row wing leaving that cell down next to the execution chamber and I don't miss it! The other day, shortly after his oral arguments before the Florida Supreme Court, they granted Mark Asay an indefinite stay of execution and moved him back to the regular death row wing, only a few cells from my own. That means that at least until the Florida Supreme Court resolves the issue of whether the US Supreme Court decision in Hurst v Florida applies retroactively to all capital cases (such as mine) nobody is under an active death warrant in Florida.

In the meantime only a few days ago the Florida legislature voted to adopt a new death penalty statute. Although almost every legal expert has said that what is required is an unanimous jury vote in order to impose the death penalty, the Florida legislature adopted a new statute that requires only a 10-2 vote to impose death - and continues to characterize that vote as a "recommendation", leaving the judge to be the person to determine the final sentence.

Undoubtedly, Florida Governor Rick Scott will sign it into law, even though they all know that once again the Supreme Court will strike it down as unconstitutional. When it comes down to it, these things are all about politics, not justice - and why should the politicians care if they waste hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers money by passing new death penalty laws that they know will be overturned as they have nothing to lose - by playing politics with the death penalty, they win votes in the upcoming November elections and so what if this new law is then thrown out, as all that money lost by illegally sentencing people to death certainly will not come out of their pockets. I've said it before and I'll say it again ...people out there just don't understand how completely corrupt  this whole process is.... worse yet, most don't even care.

It's not only about how such games will surely result in Florida death sentences being thrown out again but it's also incredibly unfair to the victims families - each time these death sentences are vacated, the case must be remanded back to the trial court and the entire penalty phase of the trial must be done over - and the victim's family must go through that entire traumatic process again and that's just not right, haven't already been through enough? But mark my words... the politicians that voted for this new Florida death penalty law and Governor Rick Scott all know with certainty that these new law also will be thrown out, with means that every person sentenced to death under these newly written law will have their death sentences thrown out again. When does this insanity stop? I guess it's not really my problem - if the court does rule in my favor within the next few weeks or months then I will either receive an automatic life sentence (and technically be almost immediately eligible for parole) or they will remand my case back down to the original trial court for "resentencing" and there's no doubt in my mind that I would receive a life sentence and start focusing on trying to win parole.

In the meantime my other appeals continue to remain pending that focus on my consistently pled claim of innocence (see: www.southerninjustice.net ) Although this issue pertaining to the constitutionality of the death penalty continues to get most of the attention, those following my case should remember that I do still have numerous legal claims pending both before the state and federal court specifically arguing my legal and factual innocence. I continue to remain hopeful that the courts will do the right thing and grand relief on any of the substantive constitutional claims that will result in my freedom. And it could very well happen.

Imagine that - this month I will "celebrate" the 33rd anniversary of my arrest and continuous incarceration on these charges, and on March 24 I will mark 32 years on Florida's death row. Although I  technically remain on "death watch" and still have that dark blue suit (bought by the prison just to kill and bury me in) waiting downstairs, and most of my closest friends worry that my pending appeal will be denied and my execution rescheduled, the fact is that I prefer to focus on the possibility that within the coming weeks, or months, the courts could still do the right thing and order my exonoration and release from prison.

 I like to dream of the day when I might still be free.  The other day I had another visit from my sisters and we talked about my dream of being able to lay on the grass outside far away from city lights so that at night I can look up and see the stars once again. It's funny howit's human nature to take the things that matter the most for granted until they are long gone and even lost forever. For me, part of that is my love for the outdoors. When growing up in Northern California the family had a ranch on Point Reyes (it is now part of the Point Reyes National Seashore) It was right on the Pacific Ocean and as a child we would spend almost every weekend camping at the ranch and I can remember the many nights when we would all gather around the campfire and sing folk songs, as our father played the guitar.  And as the campfire slowly died down and it was almost time to go to sleep, I would look up and see the infinate numbers of star suspended above and even the memory today almost takes my breath away. And that's what I hope to see again.. that night sky that I still remember so well, but haven't seen in so long.

                                                             

                                          Night sky at Point Reyes

That's why, instead of worrying about whether my pending appeals might be denied,  and in a few weeks I may yet again be down on the bottom floor of Q-wing counting down the days until my scheduled execution, I rather choose to spend these hours and days of what I know only two well is nothing more than a temporary reprieve, thinking not about the negativity of a possible execution in the foreseeable future, but instead dreaming about winning my freedom and walking back out in the real world and then laying down in the field of grass looking up to the night sky and allow my soul to be healed beneath the beauty of the universe that each of us are all part of.

Recently, someone so very special to me sent me something she wrote entitled "for when you think your existence doesn't matter" in which reminds the reader that each of us are made up of the very same particles that make up the universe as a whole ...in all of God's creation we each are part of the greater whole... and her words make my soul smile.

Perhaps each of us should take a  moment to look up at the night sky and remember that for all it's infinate beauty, we each are part of that whole.

On Q-wing - part XI of Death Watch Series

Although it's now been a few weeks since I was removed from the Q-wing death watch and back to the regular wing, I technically remain under that threat of execution and am reminded of that continued uncertainty of my status.  This past Monday I was able to get outside to the rec yard for a few hours for the first time in awhile and although it was a bit on the chilly side, it felt good to feel the sun on my way too pale skin and the breeze blowing and the smell of being outside ~ even when the work crew pushed the large trash wagon down the access road towards the back gate, I smiled at the offensive odors as they too were part of being outside.

For a long while I simply stood at the chain link fence that encloses our concrete yard, deliberately ignoring the multiple strands of razor wire inside the two fences to discourage anyone from trying to jump the yard fence and instead I focused only on the large parcel of green grass and tried to just imagine myself laying out on the lawn. It’s been well over 32 years since I actually felt the touch of green grass under my bare feet and just a few weeks ago I thought I never would again.

I find myself thinking a lot about the most irrelevant things, putting each in context of the continued uncertainty of my own fate. While watching TV the other night they showed a preview of a show I want to watch and for a moment I caught myself thinking that, that sucks as I won’t be around by that time. Then I remembered that I already got a stay of execution.

What it comes down to is that in a lot of ways I’m still stuck in that imminent execution state of mind and I have to remind myself that at least for now I am not scheduled for execution...and just as quickly I then remind myself that at anytime now the Florida Supreme Court can deny the retroactive application of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Hurst v Florida and immediately lift the stay of execution. I would be quickly moved right back to the bottom floor of Q-wing and back into that cell I only recently vacated and again the counting down to my next scheduled date with death.

                                                       

Quite simply, I remain in a state of limbo ~ not only physically but even more so, mentally. Even when I struggle to go to sleep at night I often lay awake thinking about all the “what if’s.” For that reason I am glad to be back on a regular death row wing where there’s many others around me often talking into the night. The absence of silence reminds me that I’m not down there on the bottom of Q-wing. That makes me smile, as I never thought that I’d wants to be around others that make so much noise it’s hard to get to sleep ~ now it’s not such a bad thing.

A couple of cells away from me there’s a guy fighting to be executed ~ he says he’s ready to die. But in addition to wanting to waive his appeals and force the state to put him to death as soon as possible, he;s also demanding that the state use the electric chair instead of lethal injection. And he’s not too happy that the local court has put his proceedings on hold until they figure out whether all of Florida’s death sentences are now illegal in light of the Hurst ruling.

I knew this guy before he came to death row a few years ago. His case shows that the death penalty proponents argument, that capital punishment as a deterrent is without merit, and in fact, it actually encourages some to kill. 

In his case he was already doing a life sentence for another crime and while at another prison he did something that had him transferred to “closed management” here at Florida State Prison. As is only too common, those who are placed in “C/M” must work their way back out to general population, and are assigned jobs within the prison to prove they will conduct themselves in a manner consistent with what’s expected of them.

Many of these “C/M” prisoners are assigned to work as “runners” on the death row wing. It’s their job to pass out meals ~ the food trays are prepared at the prison kitchen at the other end of the building then loaded onto a large cart and delivered to the wing. Under supervision of the wing officers, theses “runners” unload the cart onto smaller carts and pass out the food trays to the individual cells, as death row prisoners must eat their meals in their cells.

THis particular guy (whose name I’m deliberately not saying) decided that life on death row was a step up from doing a natural life sentence in the general inmate population and he knew just how to get a sentence of death ~ just kill another prisoner. And that’s just what he did. Then he pled guilty to the crime and demanded that the court sentence him to death. And now he’s demanding that they allow him to waive his appeals and carry out that sentence.

He’s not the only one to come to death row from the general prison population. Over the years I’ve seen quite a few… they come to prison with a life sentence  and decide they cannot deal with what goes on in general population, where everyday you must fight off the wolves that prey upon the weaker ones whether it be for sex or simply pleasure. That’s prison. They’re pushed to the point where even death row looks like a nice place to be, but once they actually get here they find it’s not so nice after all and then they push to waive their appeals and demand that they be executed.

What it amounts to is suicide by execution. In every case someone else has to die for them to get here. While politicians and prosecutors love to argue that the death penalty is a deterrent, they never mention these many cases and in the 32 years I’ve been here I have not even once seen a single case where someone who was already committing a crime decided not to kill  because of fear that they would get the death penalty. And too many who otherwise would not have killed at all, were compelled to do so to eliminate a witness that would send them to prison.

                                                           

For all I know within the next few weeks I could be back down on Q-wing counting down the days to my next scheduled execution, and I will continue to fight that fight every step of the way.

But while I continue to be haunted by those thoughts of only recently facing my own imminent execution and that I continue to remain alive today only because of this temporary reprieve  that itself could be stripped away any day, I struggle to understand why others here on death row are willing to fight just as hard to force the state to kill them.

If the death penalty is itself too often used as a convenient form of state sanctioned suicide by those willing to take their own lives ~ yet demanding that the state take it for them ~ doesn’t that show this myth of deterrence to be without merit and itself give reason to put an end to the death penalty so others won’t want to kill just to get here? What do you think?

Moved off Death Watch - Still Under Warrant (part 10 of Death Watch series)

I’ve now been moved back to a regular death row wing as we await a ruling from the Florida Supreme Court on whether the January decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Hurst v Florida is retroactive to all Florida cases.

I remain in regular communication with my lawyers and am told that the Florida Supreme Court is still ordering legal counsel in other capital cases to submit arguments on this Hurst issue. That implies that the Florida Supreme Court has not decided what they will do. And considering the importance of this issue it's a good thing that they are taking their time and hopefully will do the right thing when they do rule.

To be clear, what this issue comes down to is whether the Supreme Court’s ruling in Hurst declaring Florida’s process for deciding whether someone should be sentenced to death is unconstitutional will apply only to a limited number of cases (those most recently sentenced to death who are still pursuing their first round of appeal), or must it apply to everyone?

The legal argument comes down to what would be fair? The state argues that “retroactive” application of Hurst to all cases would not be fair to the state, who has spent years pursuing the finality of that sentence by execution or the victim's family who are entitled to closure.

On the other hand, our argument is that it would violate fundamental principles of law prohibiting arbitrary and unfair application of laws if the court says that those most recently sentenced to death are entitled to have their sentences vacated under Hurst while those under death sentences imposed longer are not entitled to that same relief under indistinguishable circumstances.

The state's primary argument is that in a similar case in 2002 (Ring v Arizona) the Supreme Court already said that this type of ruling cannot be applied retroactively (See, Summerlin v Schivo, (2003)). But the problem with the state’s argument is that it ignores the undisputed fact that the Summerlin case was based exclusively upon application of the Federal standard of retroactive application ~ and that the state court is not obligated to follow that Federal standard of retroactive application.

What all this really comes down to is that the states are constitutionally empowered to adopt more liberal applications of retroactive law. In Florida, this state standard was established long ago in Witt v State, in which under state law the primary element in deciding retroactive application simply comes down to doing what is fair and right ~ and not the Federal standard of relying heavily upon rules of procedure and finality.

For this reason the lawyers remain confident that the Florida Supreme Court will rule in my favor and hold that Hurst v Florida will apply to all Florida death row cases.

And if I win this argument in my case then pretty much everyone else on Florida’s death row will also have their death sentence vacated.

Assuming for the moment that we do win this, then what? Technically. the court will most likely order a new sentencing process for all 390 Florida death row prisoners before a new jury. But it is extremely unlikely that the state of Florida would actually pursue new death sentences as the average capital sentencing costs about $250,000 each as in each case the defendant is legally entitled to obtain a mitigation specialist and necessary mental health experts as well as call witnesses to establish the “mitigating” circumstances applicable to each case. Likewise, the state is entitled to call it’s own expert witnesses and present the evidence necessary to establish the aggravating factors supporting a sentence of death.

What this means is that attempting to resentence all those currently on Florida’s death row would cost about one hundred million dollars and quite simply, the state just doesn’t have that money available. For that reason alone the majority of those currently on death row would simply have their sentences reduced to to life in prison. For those convicted prior to 1995, that “life” sentence means that they must serve at least 25 years before becoming eligible for parole ~ those convicted after 1995 would never become eligible for parole under the current “life without parole” law.

                                                                 

Myself, I was convicted in early 1984 and if the court rules in my favor then I would go from being on death watch facing imminent execution today to being technically eligible for parole tomorrow. Because by law each of us are legally entitled to credit for all time served on death row, technically I would have become eligible for parole in March 2008.

But the reason I repeatedly say “technically” is because the grant of parole is completely within the discretion of the parole board and history has shown that Florida’s parole board very rarely grants parole to anyone convicted of violent crimes.

The real irony in that is that virtually every credible study on which prisoners are most likely to commit another crime if released shows that those convicted of murder are the least likely to reoffend. But it doesn’t have anything to do with truth or justice… the decision to grant parole is based exclusively upon politics and little else.

However, politics do change and there are many today ~ including many conservatives ~ that think it’s time to reform the current system and bring an end to locking people away and throwing away the key. Quite simply, there’s a growing chorus of change and it’s now entirely conceivable that within the foreseeable future, parole will once again be available.

As all this remains yet undetermined the reality that I’m dealing with is that only a couple of weeks ago I was facing the probability of being put to death by execution. The court ordered a stay of execution as they consider how Hurst will apply. Then I was removed from the death watch holding area and placed back on a regular death row wing.

And today I can sit here and contemplate the increased likelihood that I will one day yet walk out that front gate of the prison and back into the real world. I can dream of what I would do if only I was allowed to go home. For many of those incarcerated as long as I have been, there’s little waiting for them outside the prison, but for me, I’m blessed in that I have family ~ parents, siblings, children, and grandchildren ~ and I have friends anxiously awaiting that day when I might yet walk to freedom. It’s not just my dream ~ it’s their dream too.

So, that’s the big change… although still technically on death watch. We all have renewed hope and where just a few weeks ago we were talking about my funeral preparations, today we talk about that possibility of freedom. That’s the power of hope and hope springs eternal.

Stay of Execution

As that first week of February began, the days to my scheduled execution were down to less than ten. I focused on separating all my property, which in truth wasn’t much and most was pretty much trash to anyone but me, but it had to be done as I knew that on Thursday February 4th I would move to the next phase of the death watch protocol.

What that meant is that I only had until February 4th to go through my personal property and decide who would get what, My Bible, watch, and other personal things would go to my son, and my mp3 player to my sister Mary. While my small television ad fan would would go to my older sister Debbie. The boxes of personal papers and legal work would be picked up by my friend who would sort all that out. And I would throw away a lot of trash that piled up over the years.

I spent the better part of Monday sorting through that and with each decision I made it brought the reality that I would soon die that much closer. But it had to be done and trying to ignore the obvious wouldn’t make it go away.

On Tuesday morning February 2nd the Florida Supreme Court would hold oral arguments on my case, but I wouldn’t be able to see them. Instead, at that same time I had a visit with my sisters Debbie, Mary, and Janet. Although Debbie and Mary have visited many times through the years, that was the first time my sister Janet had visited in the past 32 years. The last time I had seen her was in the courtroom where I was convicted and sentenced to death.

It was a great visit and all those years that passed, quickly faded away and it was as if we had just talked last week. That’s family. Years can pass without having any communication and just that quick we are talking as if no time had passed at all. Before we knew it, the few hours allowed for that visit passed and we had to say our goodbyes. At the time of that visit, they all expected that within a few days I would be put to death. That made saying goodbye that much harder.

Immediately after that visit with my sisters, my lawyer and the investigator assigned to my case stopped by for a visit as they wanted to tell me how the “oral arguments” on my case went earlier that morning and they told me that they went well, but that nobody could predict what the Florida Supreme Court might do when they ruled, nor even how long it would take for the Court to rule. With my execution scheduled for that following week, we expected a decision within days.

Just after 4 pm my lawyer left and after locking down the entire prison as is protocol for “death watch movement,” I was escorted back up that long main hall slowly shuffling along in the leg shackles and handcuffs and chains until we reached the very last door leading into Q wing, and then down the stairs and back to my death watch cell.

Within moments the phone on the desk in of the cell rang and the sergeant answered it… it was Warden Palmer and he wanted to talk to me. Not knowing what to expect ~ not too often any inmate gets a phone call from the warden ~ I reluctantly said, “hello?” and after that brief exchange of irrelevant formalities, Warden Palmer then informed me that the Florida Supreme Court just ordered my scheduled execution postponed to some as yet undetermined time in the future, allowing the Court time to reach its decision on the applicability of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in that Hurst v Florida case.

But I would remain on death watch as a temporary stay meant that at any given time the Florida Supreme Court could lift the stay of execution and proceed to carry out the execution.

Although it is unlikely that they would lift the stay before the originally scheduled date, it remains a possibility. If the court ordered stay remains in effect beyond Friday February 12th, then an execution would not be authorized until the Governor signs a new order of execution.  Under Florida Statute 922.06(2) once the Florida Supreme Court lifts this stay of execution then Florida’s Attorney General must certify that the stay of execution has been lifted and only then is the Governor statutorily required to set another execution date.

Bottom line, it’s almost certain that the Florida Supreme Court will not lift this stay of execution before February 12th, and so although I technically remain on death watch, I would not have any date set for execution.

That uncertainty of imminent death will continue to hang over me as there is no way to know how the Florida Supreme Court will ultimately rule. Within weeks I could go from being steps away from that execution chamber that now patiently continues to wait for me ~ or they could rule in my favor and just that quickly my sentence would be reduced to “life.” Under Florida law since my capital conviction was before 1995, that life sentence would mean that I would not be eligible for parole for at least 25 years (as of March, 1983) so technically I would be eligible for parole in March 2008 ~ 8 years ago. But parole is totally discretionary and Florida rarely ever grants parole to any prisoner previously sentenced to death. I have no realistic expectation of parole. Still, it would be theoretically possible.

If the Florida Supreme Court rules against me, then my execution will be rescheduled. Most likely within a matter of weeks. My other appeals continue to be pursued and they too provide that hope that relief will be granted. Perhaps the courts will yet allow me the opportunity to be heard on the readily available evidence substantiating my innocence and this will be the year that I am finally exonerated and win my freedom ~ finally pursue my long held dream of to travel from coast to coast, visiting the National Parks, watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean and falling asleep beneath the stars at night.

For those that don’t already know, on January 30 the Sarasota Herald newspaper did a long article about me and my case titled “His Plea for Life at Florida’s Highest Court” and on February 9th a media interview was done with Politico that should also be televised and available online in coming weeks.

I would again thank all those for the cards and letters of support. The truth is that my primary source of strength through this have been those cards and letters, as well as the family visits I’ve received. I know that in many ways all of this is so much harder on those that care about me than it is even on me, myself. I remain truly blessed by all those who so selflessly reach out to me during these past weeks.

And then there’s friends that do so much to help and the phone calls, visits, and photos of my children and the smiling faces of my grandchildren, too.. Even as I feel all but crushed beneath the overwhelming weight of this process that virtually stalks my death, I find comfort in knowing that so many care and continue to hold me in their thoughts and prayers.

Last, a special word of thanks to whoever sent me that book “From the Depths of a Slaughter” by Angela Pomeranz. I personally knew both Timebomb and Bo, and their memories made me smile. Thank you.

Letter from Death Watch (part 8)

Another week already gone, and as I write this today there’s less than two weeks to go before my scheduled execution. It’s been a relatively quiet week and I smiled when the thought of “the calm before the storm” comes to mind, as I know that as we move into that final stretch it will pick up.

On Thursday they will elevate me to the next phase. Since my death warrant was signed on November 30, I’ve been on “phase II” but per protocol once I reach that last seven days prior to execution; things change. Right now I’m allowed to keep all my property in my cell and it’s not much different that regular death row confinement beyond the fact that the death watch cell is significantly larger.

Once I graduate to the next phase (phase I) they will remove all my property from my cell and post an officer just outside my cell 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He will have a forest green “death watch log” and record my every movement. This is similar to “suicide watch” and its sole purpose is to make sure that the condemned prisoner doesn’t deprive the state out of its intended execution by committing suicide. Once I graduate to the next stage even my lawyers will no longer be allowed regular visits in the death watch interview room, but will only be allowed to see me in the non-contact visitation area through glass. This ensures that even the lawyers cannot pass anything to the condemned prisoner.

It’s all about the methodical process designed to force the condemned to become a willing participant in his or her murder. I know from their perspective, this process is meticulously tuned to ensure that the intended execution goes by the book without unexpected interruption

But more so than anything else, what bothers me the most about this whole process is just how incredibly cold and calculated it is, as if those responsible have completely forgotten that they are taking a human life. It really is nothing less than the “machinery of death.” And I really do have to wonder just how much of their own humanity those responsible for carrying out this act of taking a human life must abandon as nothing about this process is “normal.”

Maybe that’s exactly the point… maybe they need this process themselves so that they can detach from the reality that they are killing a fellow human being. Maybe by becoming so fixated on each minute detail, it provides them that luxury of pushing aside the reality that they are killing another person.

                                                     

I suppose if that’s true, then it helps that most of those who are assigned to assist in this execution ritual have done it many times. One officer recently told me that he’s been down here for at least the last 25 executions. At some point, it probably gets easier. At some point they probably don’t even lose any sleep over it… it’s just a job. And that’s kind of scary.

At least I accomplished one small thing this week. In January this year when they killed Oscar Bolin as I was forced to remain in my death watch cell only feet away, I found out that they would not allow communion on the day of execution. Most Americans claim to be Christian and would find it offensive that a condemned prisoner would be denied communion when having his last spiritual visit.

When I realized that this was the case, I asked several people responsible for this process why they would not allow the condemned prisoner to take communion ~ which is unquestionably one of the fundamental tenets of any Christian faith. And other than allowing communion interfered with their last day protocol, nobody could give me an answer as to why. Apparently, nobody had ever questioned this before.

Unable to get any explanation at institutional level, I then brought this to the attention of my lawyers. Just by coincidence, my top lawyer Neil Dupree ( head of CCRC) was in Tallahassee to participate in budget conferences and in the same room as the FDOC Secretary Julie Jones.

As I understand it, Mr. Dupree took a moment to talk to Julie Jones and simply asked her why it was that condemned prisoners were not allowed to receive communion on execution day and apparently Ms. jones did not even know that this was not allowed and assured Mr. Dupree that she would look into it immediately.

Early the next morning the prisons Assistant Warden came down to death watch and discussed this issue with me, in a polite and respectful manner. Just that easily, the issue was resolved ~ I would be allowed to receive communion from the Catholic priest on the day of my scheduled execution. But I wonder whether those who face execution in the future will think to inquire as apparently I was the first to simply ask.

This past week I was kept busy by the lawyers as the various appeals were submitted to the courts. Since the Hurst v Florida decision was handed down from the U.S. Supreme Court on January 12 declaring Florida’s death penalty statute unconstitutional, many of the top lawyers have joined my legal team as now my own case will decide whether that court decision applies to everyone on death row, or maybe to no one  at all. Oral arguments before the Florida Supreme Court will be interesting. (If you missed these oral arguments you can pull them up at any time at http://www.wfsu.org/gavel2gavel/viewcase.php?eid=2314)

With all the attention of this Hurst v Florida issue, I’m increasingly worried that the lawyers are not pursuing my numerous other issues as aggressively. For one thing, I just don’t have any confidence that the Florida Supreme Court will rule favorably on this Hurst case. Of the seven justices on that court, most are former death penalty prosecutors themselves (they each are politically hand picked, so that’s not just a coincidence) and not even one of them opposes the death penalty. And this court has already sent at least 30 men to their execution since 2002 when the US Supreme Court first ruled this process was wrong. I just don’t see that court suddenly willing to do the right thing. What’s important to me is my long and consistently pled claim of innocence and that it continues to be argued before the Florida Supreme Court and in the Federal Courts. But with this attention on this Hurst issue, my claims that argue my innocence are being neglected and I’m not happy about that ~ and there’s not a damned thing I can do about that either.

Some time this next week the lawyers will file my appeal on the innocence claims in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. I also expect nothing from that court as my case was assigned to the three most extremely pro death penalty judges (Carnes, Hull, and Tjoulat), so the most I can hope for is that once those judges rubber stamp that federal denied (as they do all death row appeals) then we can try to get the US Supreme Court to grant review.

But the clock continues to count down and each day I’m that much closer to my death. It’s still a matter of days, but soon it will be a matter of hours.

Note: Michael Lambrix was granted an indefinite stay of execution on February 2, 2016.He has now been moved to a regular death row cell at Florida State Prison, while still being under warrant.

Anyone wanting to send a card or letter to Mike, please write to:

Michael Lambrix #482053
Florida State Prison G1204
7819 NW 228th street
Raiford Florida 32026-1100