Rolling To Be Executed

Now that Florida has resumed executions, guess who's next on the list?

Gov. Jeb Bush has signed a death warrant for Danny Rolling, convicted as the Gainesville student murderer. That's the case that brought a dose of fame to Rod Smith, who was the state attorney who prosecuted Rolling who pleaded guilty to the murders back in the early 1990s.

Buzz hears it's scheduled for Oct. 25, 6 p.m.

Comments

[gatordem]

Pictures in all the North Florida newspapers October 26th:

Rod Smith and Jim Davis high fiving outside Raiford.

Say goodnight, Charlie!!!

What a nice way for Jeb to end his eight years as Gov. We have all been waiting for Rolling to fry for what he did.

Burn baby, burn

[jaguar]

gatordem,
How the hell does Davis get any credit for the execution of Rolling? A photo op of him celebrating an execution is both ludicrous and morbid. It just shows you have a poor sense of the seriousness of putting murderers to death. As AG, Crist could repeat his somber support for the death penalty, and his frustration with liberal judges and lengthy appeals. Crime issues favor Crist, not Davis.

[gatordem]

Charlie will be out campaigning when this happens. He hasn't spent a full day at work since he's been elected.

The man is a workaholic, gets up at 5 every morn, never stops. He can do his AG job, campaign and do Davis' job if he needed to. Please.

[Paul D. Harvill]

Burn, baby, burn.

You clearly know nothing about capital punishment law in Florida.

[zhombre]

What does Rollings' execution have to do with Florida politics or elections? I don't know why the editor posted that here. And as for Gatordem's comment about Davis capitalizing on this onerous event, well, GD you are a moron.

[Paul D. Harvill]

Politically this is very interesting.

One take: Gov. Bush helping Crist by killing the number one living villain in Florida - about a week before the election.

Take two: Some sort of twisted dig at Rod Smith.

Take three: Does Crist not want to sign a bunch of death warrants, thus leaving it to Jeb to do so.

Take four: Has Crist requested of Jeb to sign more death warrants - during the election itself.

Take five: Any ideas from you?

Go back to 1994. Jeb Bush runs an ad with a mother criticizing Lawton Chiles for not executing the killer of her daughter. Bush is widely blasted because the appeals process had not run its course. This overreach helps Chiles defeat Bush.

Fast forward to 2006. Jeb Bush is in his 8th year as governor. He has signed many death warrants. Executions have happened.

I'm curious. Whatever happened to that killer from the 1994 ad? Where is that killer today?

[David]

Or Paul,
It could be the U.S. Supreme Court was blocking executions up until the one that happened this week. There is a backlog of people on death row.

Danny Rolling killed these people in 1990, sixteen years is long enough.

Personally, I think we need to strap six or seven down at a time.

[Paul D. Harvill]

"What does Rollings' execution have to do with Florida politics or elections?"

.......

Now understand?

[Paul D. Harvill]

Actually Gov. Bush has signed about the same number as did Gov. Chiles.

I hope that The Buzz will gather the stats for us.

Chiles, friends defend record on executions
[CITY Edition]
St. Petersburg Times - St. Petersburg, Fla.
Author: BILL MOSS
Date: Oct 29, 1994
Start Page: 1.B.3.B
Section: TAMPA BAY AND STATE; TAMPA TODAY
Text Word Count: 623

Copyright Times Publishing Co. Oct 29, 1994
Condemned killer Larry Eugene Mann sits on death row awaiting execution for the 1980 slaying of 10-year-old Elisa Nelson in Palm Harbor.

Mann now has become famous, thanks to the perverse pathology of the political campaign in a state gripped by crime.

Mann is being called the Willie Horton of the 1994 campaign because of a political ad in which Elisa's mother blames Gov. Lawton Chiles for the delays in execution.

Republican challenger Jeb Bush has retreated from that message, acknowledging that signing a warrant now would not speed Mann's execution. But three days after the ad went up, Chiles was still counterpunching, hoping to turn an attack into an offensive strike of his own on the dominant crime issue.

A traveling road show held courtroom news conferences in Tampa and Orlando on Friday, with former Supreme Court justices and popular U.S. Sen. Bob Graham strongly defending Chiles' record on the death penalty.

"I am outraged that Jeb Bush would distort my record," Chiles said. "I am more outraged that he would use the grief of a mother in the loss of her daughter to say that I am not strong on the death penalty or that I would do anything to slow it down."

"We have a clear choice," said State Attorney Harry Shorstein of Jacksonville. "We can make our decision based on rhetoric and demagoguery or base it on a sound record helpful to the criminal justice system. Gov. Chiles has given us effective leadership."

Graham, who signed the original (and only) death warrant in Mann's case, said Chiles has worked with the state Supreme Court, cutting the time for filing post-conviction appeals from two years to one. Graham said the rule changes sought by Chiles and adopted by the court have ensured that executions would take place in a "judicious and prudent" manner.

"The things for which he is being slanderously attacked are the very things that are going to sustain public support for the death penalty in this state and in the United States," he said.

Signing Mann's warrant now "will not speed execution by one day," said former Supreme Court Justice Alan Sundberg. "Anyone who suggests otherwise is either profoundly uninformed or is engaged in the basest kind of demagoguery."

The campaigns jousted over Bush's assertion that he could reduce delays by cutting out post-conviction review of capital cases in state courts and letting only federal courts handle those appeals.

In an instant response to Chiles' news conference Friday morning in Tampa, a Bush volunteer handed out a statement announcing support for Bush's "one trial, one appeal plan." His proposal was endorsed by former U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr, who was appointed by Bush's father, and five state attorneys including Republican Bernie McCabe of the Pinellas-Pasco Circuit.

Sundberg said Bush's idea would cause even more delays because overburdened federal courts would have no state appeals court record to review and would demand further hearings of new evidence or new claims.

Elisa Nelson was kidnapped and murdered in 1980. The television ad shows the young girl in a Little League picture and features her mother, Wendy Nelson, talking about the long agonizing wait for justice. She said when she met Bush a few weeks ago her sister handed him a pen set and asked him to use it to sign Mann's death warrant.

Larry Eugene Mann is still on Florida's Death Row.

http://www.dc.state.fl.us/ActiveInmates/Detail.asp?Bookmark=1&From=list&SessionID=464525375

C Number: 077663
Name: MANN, LARRY E
Race: WHITE
Sex: MALE
Hair Color: BROWN
Eye Color: HAZEL
Height: 5'10''
Weight: 206 lbs.
Birth Date: 06/09/1953
Initial Receipt Date: 04/06/1981
Current Facility: UNION C.I.
Current Classification Status: DEATH ROW
Current Custody: MAXIMUM
Current Release Date: DEATH SENTENCE

zhombre:

Rod Smith was the guy who put him on death row...

Rod is still a State Senator until November... And he is still vice-chair of 2 comm. dealing with the justice system.

Besides all the other stuff - this is one connection on Florida politics.

[In Rod We Trust]

I told all of you Davis idiots that time would tell the tale.

And here we have it... the big fish is on the hook and will be in the frying pan before election day.

And Rod hasnt even broken a sweat.

Shame on you Davis parasites!! Rod would be positioned perfectly, if you hadnt lied about him!!

The reality of the fact is that the smith-davis race would not have been close if sarah bascom had not created and pushed the helicopter ad.

She works hard but that one ad was her downfall.

Does anyone want to talk about the fact that it has been 26 YEARS since that little girl was killed???

I bet no one would have guessed in 1994 when this case came up that another 12 years would go by, and Larry Eugene Mann would STILL BE ALIVE.

[BoilerGOP]

11:59

Does not suprise me. Courts with liberal judges and liberal lawyers almost always drag these cases out for years.

They should really make the death penalty a deterrent, by making it MUCH swifter.

If someone is convicted, sentenced to die, he/she then goes into automatic appeal in front of a 5 panel judge for review within 30 days. They analyze all the facts, the case, any unanswered questions, and then make a decision. Then if it is upheld, the prisoner is subject to die within 7 days.

Dying within 2 months of conviction, that would be a deterrent.

[terminator]

rot in hell Rolling.

We should crank up "old sparky" rather than use the lame lethal injection route.

Can't we transfer him to Guantanamo where he could be tortured for a few months with the other Al Qaeda and Taliban freaks before we fry him?

[Paul D. Harvill]

"Courts with liberal judges and liberal lawyers almost always drag these cases out for years."

.......

Now, BoilerGOP, if you would think about your above comment.

1. Since Presidents nominate federal judges,

2. And since for most of the past thirty years have been conservative Republican Presidents making these appointments,

3. And since the U.S. Senate very seldom stops District Court and Court of Appeals and usually doesn't halt USSC nominees,

4. And since even conservative attorneys represent death-sentenced persons, e.g. William Sessions,

5. Your comment is both incorrect and thus meaningless bullshit.

and gee those repug congressional critters worked so damn hard to keep a "dead woman" on life support while they let a killer of a precious little girl lollybag around for how many years in prison? on who's tax dollars? gee, wonder if he had cable? gee, wonder if he finished his degree yet? gee, wonder what he's fed at night? wonder what his favorite new authors are? now get this - remember that little girl - her favorite show was probably Tool Time. idiot republlicans. yeah, they are all for LIFE but ONLY BEFORE YOU ARE BORN AND BREATHE ON YOUR OWN

1:16, that's about the most idiotic, foolish statement I've seen on this blog since -- well, ever. You can't even spell.

You moron. It's the liberals and their ACLU friends that fight for all that crap in the prisons. Left to their own devices and without any liberal panty-waste interference, the GOP would make the ideas in BoilerGOP's post common practice -- Paul D. Harvill's and your handwringing notwithstanding.

By the way, life isn't defined as "breathing on your own." I'm pretty sure that doctors -- oh, and anyone whose life has ever been saved with CPR -- would be surprised to hear your definition of "life."

Do us favor and never post here again.

All conservatives are not stupid, but all stupid people are conservative. George Will

[BoilerGOP]

Harvill,

These are state judges that block the executions. 9 out of 10 times the cases go to federal appeals court they rule to inject.

Plus judges stick around very often for 20-30 years. Clinton had 8 years of judge picks. Reagan had to pick only moderate or moderate-liberal b/c the dems ran the senate.

11:54:

sarah bascom??

Who is she? I think that ad was the work of Stan Adkins...

sarah bascom was not part of the rod squad

[Paul D. Harvill]

BoilerGOP:

You are partially correct - as long as the trial courts give a full and fair evidentiary hearing and the findings are truly adverse to the defendant, then the courts from the FSC and the Federal courts move the cases along as the issues were litigated and exhausted.

State judges are likewise appointees - with some elected - by the Governor - Jeb Bush has been in office for eight years and has had the authority to almost choose whomever he wants since he appoints the JNC memberships in toto, unlike under previous governors.

So, your analysis is partially correct.

Thanks for having a meaningful discussion. So many at The Buzz are bullshit.

I thought Sarah Bascom was working on the Jim King campaign. She used to be the press person for King when he was Senate president.

Isn't she part of the Todd Harris/Mike Murphy group?

Well, there are a couple other policy advisors to King who ended up working for the Smith campaign. I wouldn't be surprised if Sarah also played some role.

[Clancy Manoogian]

Who the heck cares about the Gainesville Ripper or Rod Smith anymore? This will leave no impact on the race. Crist wins.

What's Charlie got against Florida and her people?

Davis operatives got the outtakes from the Smith helicopter ad to show that GOPers were in charge of his camp.

The clips had Basscom flying the chopper.

Crist may get up at 5 but that doesn't mean he is working...He swims for an hour, then get gets dressed and then goes to work about 8 or 9 just like everyone else.

[Michael Halkitis]

The fact is Larry Mann most likely will never be executed,he is a sick man who will die soon anyway.Let him die in grace and peace in his jail cell bed.

I went to grade school with Elisa and her brother.

It is my sincere hope that Mann dies a horrible, painful death, full of suffering. And when he does, he still won't experience the fear that Elisa did in her final moments.

He's a true piece or garbage that doesn't deserve one more molecule of oxygen, nor anyone's sympathy.

[tracy]

It's been awhile since this post and this may never be seen but...
I, too went to grade school with Elisa and just wanted to second the notion that Larry Mann deserves NO sympathy, nor does he deserve to "die gracefully". Elisa didn't.
It is an absolute outrage that this sorry excuse for a human being is even still drawing breath and makes me sick to my stomach when I think of this perversion of justice.

[Bonnie]

I also went to school with Elisa and the entire event has effected my life since the day she dissappeared. When I saw that the latest child killer had been sentenced to death I almost cried. He will be alive long after some of her family have passed and will never see justice served. It has been 27 years since Elisa was taken from us and yet her familiy and friends still wait for justice to be served. WHY?!?! A letter to the governor is on its way. It may not do anything, but atleast I will have tried.