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SOURCE: http://www.tbo.com/list/columns-jhenderson/florida-got-it-right-with-bolin-execution-20160109/
Florida got it right with Bolin execution
Oscar Ray
Bolin was executed Friday January 7, 2016 at the Florida State Prison in
Raiford. CHRIS URSO/STAFF
The world
got better when Oscar Ray Bolin was forcibly evicted from the realm of the
living to whatever awaited in the Great Beyond. The state of Florida provided a
public service late Thursday when it executed that mass murdering sociopath.
Then again,
that’s just me. I’m not the one who had to sign the death warrant or push the
buttons that sent poison into his veins. It’s the most solemn decision any
governor has to make. When asked at a meeting with The Tampa Tribune’s
editorial board if anything about the job kept him awake nights, Gov. Rick Scott
said it was signing death warrants.
Opponents
say state-sanctioned killing is barbaric and should be outlawed. It also should
be noted that Florida leads the nation in the number of death sentences
overturned.
If we’re
going to have a death penalty though, it was designed for people like Bolin. He
drew two death sentences but was executed for the murder of Teri Lynn Matthews
of Land O’Lakes in 1986. He was also guilty of killing 17-year-old Stephanie
Collins and 25-year-old Blanche Holley, both of Tampa.
If you were
around here then, you remember the awful grip that had on everyone. Since
Florida resumed executions in 1979, Bolin was in a triumvirate of terror that
included Ted Bundy and Oba Chandler as the worst of the worst.
This month
is the 27th anniversary of Bundy’s execution in Florida’s electric chair. I
talked to former Gov. Bob Martinez about what someone in that position goes
through when the question is life or death.
Bundy was
one of nine people executed during the four years Martinez was governor, and he
was by far the most notorious. Bundy confessed to at least 30 murders and was
suspected in many more.
“Ted Bundy
had a national following,” Martinez said. “People from all over the country
were interested in this. There were strong advocates for and against his
execution.
“I remember
we got a call from Colorado just before the execution was scheduled. They
thought Ted Bundy was willing to talk about missing people there, and would we
postpone the execution until they could meet with him? I thought he was just
trying to buy time, so I said no.”
The
execution was scheduled for Jan. 24, 1989. Martinez’s office had been inundated
with phone calls and letters, some asking him to commute the sentence while
others volunteered to pull the switch. They didn’t have any impact on the
decision to move ahead.
“I glanced
at some of them,” Martinez said. “Some of those didn’t believe Bundy had
committed those crimes. But I had read his file extensively before signing the
death warrant. I always did. I wanted to be as familiar with his case as
possible.”
Bundy was
found guilty of three murders and had survived three death warrants. Martinez
signed the one that stuck, condemning Bundy for the murder of 12-year-old
Kimberly Leach of Lake City.
Executions
now are carried out in the late afternoon, but in 1989 it was scheduled for 7
a.m. Martinez recalled rising early that day. He reviewed Bundy’s file once
more. He conferred with staff members while about 144 miles away at the Florida
State Prison in Raiford, Bundy was being strapped into the electric chair.
He made his
final statement at 7:04.
A minute
later, prison Superintendent Tom Barton checked by phone one more time with the
governor.
“There are
no stays,” Martinez told him. “On behalf of the countless victims of Theodore
Bundy, both dead and living, across Florida and the nation, I direct you to
proceed to carry out the court-ordered sentence.”
I asked
Martinez if that was a prepared statement because of the enormity of the
moment, or whether the words had just tumbled out. Martinez said he had planned
it. Either way, it was fitting.
Moments
later, 2,000 volts of electricity surged through Bundy. He was pronounced dead
at 7:16.
That was a
long time ago. Bolin was the 72nd person put to death in Florida since then.
Events like that never leave you though, even when it’s someone as evil as
Bundy.
“I didn’t
like doing it, but I do believe in it,” Martinez said. “I believed in capital
punishment then, and I do now, but it’s not easy. There is a life at the other
end of the process.
“Although
the process is way too long, the number of appeals they file is good. (The
inmate) is not going anywhere, and you have to be sure.”
Bundy was
on death row for nine years. Bolin was first sent there in 1991. Although Bolin
went to his grave denying that he had murdered the women, there is no doubt
Florida got the right man.
Gov. Scott
deserved to sleep well.
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