An overweight death row inmate was executed at Florida State Prison Tuesday evening despite his defense’s argument that his morbid obesity would complicate the process.
Michael Tanzi, 48, was declared dead at 6:12 p.m. after receiving the three-drug injection for the April 2000 murder of Janet Acosta.
“I want to apologize to the family,” Tanzi said. He then recited a verse from the Bible before the lethal injection began to flow.
The convicted murderer’s last meal consisted of pork chops, bacon, ice cream, and a candy bar.
Tanzi confessed to abducting Janet Acosta, a 49-year-old Miami Herald employee, while she was on lunch break in her car.
Threatening the victim with a razor blade, Tanzi drove the victim’s car to a hardware store and stole her money to buy duct tape and razor blades.
“He drove to an isolated area in Cudjoe Key, told her he was going to kill her, and began to strangle her,” police said.
“He stopped to place duct tape over her mouth, nose and eyes in an attempt to quiet her and then strangled her.”
After his arrest, Tanzi immediately confessed to doing “some bad thing” and led police to Acosta’s body on Cudjoe Key.
“If I had let her go, I was gonna get caught quicker. I didn’t want to get caught. I was having too much fun…I told her, I says, ‘I can’t let you go. If I let you go, then I’m gonna be in a lot of trouble,” he reportedly told police.
