A convicted cold-blooded killer made sure to thank his executioners in the moments before he was killed by lethal injection, in a chilling moment after he had spent most of his life on Death Row.
Michael Bernard Bell, who has languished in jail for three decades following his conviction for the murders of Jimmy West and Tamecka Smith outside a bar in an act of attempted vengeance, became yet another inmate killed by lethal injection. With his execution, the United States’ tally has already eclipsed last year’s total, with five months still to go in 2025.
As he faced his final moments at Florida State Prison near Starke, 54-year-old Bell was asked by the team warden if he had any last words. His eerie response: “Thank you for not letting me spend the rest of my life in prison.”
After receiving the lethal dose, he was pronounced dead within approximately 10 minutes. Bell, marking the eighth execution in Florida for the current year, opted for an omelette, bacon, home fries, and orange juice as his final meal on Tuesday.
He engaged with a spiritual adviser before his execution but declined any other visitors, the Mirror reports.
Despite efforts by Bell’s defence team to halt the execution due to what they claimed was newly unearthed evidence regarding witness testimony, their plea was unanimously dismissed by judges last week, who cited the overwhelming evidence confirming Bell’s guilt.
On his first day back in the White House, Donald Trump enacted a comprehensive executive order to encourage prosecutors to pursue capital punishment and carry out any outstanding death sentences. The months following have witnessed a dramatic surge in executions, with Florida leading the charge and having a ninth execution scheduled for later this month.
John Blume, who heads the Cornell Death Penalty Project, observed: “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… The most cynical view would be: It seems to matter to the president, so it matters to them (state governors).”
However, Florida carried out just a single execution throughout the entirety of 2024. The state has now surpassed all others, including Texas and South Carolina, in executions this year.
Bell received his conviction in 1995, almost two years following the fatal shooting of Mr West and Ms Smith. In December 1993, Bell identified what he believed to be the vehicle belonging to the individual who had murdered his brother earlier that year.
Bell remained unaware that the perpetrator had sold the vehicle to Mr West, resulting in him, Ms Smith and another woman – all innocent bystanders – being gunned down after departing a public house and approaching the car.
Mr West perished at the scene, whilst Ms Smith succumbed to her injuries en route to hospital. The third woman managed to avoid harm.
Eyewitnesses reported that Bell also discharged his weapon towards a gathering of spectators before making his escape. His arrest followed the subsequent year.
Bell was subsequently found guilty of three further murders – a woman and her young son in 1989, and his mother’s partner approximately four months prior to the assault on Mr West and Ms Smith.
