Attorneys for Florida inmate Michael Duane Zack asked a federal judge this week to block his scheduled Oct. 3 execution, contending that a state clemency process was flawed. Zack’s attorneys filed the federal case and asked for a stay of execution as they also pursue a separate appeal at the Florida Supreme Court.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Aug. 17 signed a death warrant for Zack in the 1996 Escambia County murder of Ravonne Smith during a crime spree that also included killing another woman.
In the federal-court case, Zack’s attorneys wrote that he received a clemency interview in 2014 but did not hear from the state until Aug. 17, when DeSantis issued the death warrant and clemency was denied. The attorneys argued that Zack’s due-process rights were violated during the clemency process.
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“The injury Mr. Zack faces is clear: He will be executed unless this court issues a stay, and he will have been executed without ever having a clemency proceeding in which he was afforded constitutional due process,” a motion for a stay filed Tuesday said.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle. A jury in September 1997 convicted Zack of first-degree murder, robbery with a firearm and sexual battery in Smith’s death, records show.
He also is serving a life sentence for murdering a woman in Okaloosa County shortly before the Smith murder. In state court, an Escambia County circuit judge last week denied a request for a stay of execution and rejected other arguments raised by Zack’s attorneys.
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That prompted an appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. Circuit Judge Linda Nobles turned down arguments that Zack should be shielded from execution because he has an intellectual disability involving Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
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