Convicted murderer Donald Dillbeck was pronounced dead at 6:13 pm on Thursday in a Florida prison after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his attorney’s last-minute petition to stay the execution.
Immediately before his execution, Dillbeck gave his final words, disparaging Ron DeSantis and his policies.
“I know I hurt people when I was young. I really messed up,” Dillbeck said. “But I know Ron DeSantis has done a lot worse. He’s taken a lot from a lot of people. I speak for all men, women and children. He’s put his foot on our necks. Ron DeSantis and other people like him can suck our dicks.”
The execution was Florida’s first in more than three years. Governor DeSantis signed Donald Dillbeck’s death warrant last month on the same day he proposed changing Florida’s law to revert to a previous one where death sentences require a supermajority during the penalty phase instead of a unanimous decision.
Dillbeck was already serving a life sentence for killing Lee County Deputy Dwight Lynn Hall in 1979, when he was only 15 years old. During a work release program sponsored by the prison in Gadsden County, Dillbeck escaped, obtained a knife and tried to carjack a vehicle, according to court documents.
Faye Vann was sitting in her car when Dillbeck approached and tried to steal her vehicle. When Vann resisted, Dillbeck violently stabbed her to death. He was later arrested after crashing the victim’s car.
Dillbeck was convicted in 1991 of first-degree murder, armed robbery and armed burglary, according to Department of Corrections records.
