STARKE, Fla. – After Capitol correspondent Mike Vasilinda's story last month about some death row inmates not wanting their sentences reduced to life without parole, a two-time Tampa killer on death row wrote to say death was preferable to life in prison.
Vasilinda interviewed Wayne Doty on Wednesday morning and said the killer has ended his appeals.
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Doty got life in prison for a meth-fueled murder in 1996. Then five years ago, while in the general population, he killed a fellow inmate, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to die.
"He had like two years to go on his sentence and was going home a free man, but he decided to steal something that didn't belong to him," Doty said. "That happens in prison every day."
Doty has asked the courts to stop his appeals.
"And I believe that a man is entitled to their own destiny, their own choices," Doty said.
Doty was interviewed because he wrote to say he didn't want another life sentence. That's a possibility though after the death sentencing scheme in Florida was declared unconstitutional.
He described life in the general population as horrific and lacking hope.
"They steal. They rob. They do anything they can by any means to survive in that environment," Doty said.
"You're really making the case that life on death row is better than (being in the) general population?" Vasilinda asked.
"Oh, yeah," Doty said.
"I mean, death row has actually got better living conditions?" Vasilinda asked.
"Oh, yeah," Doty said.
"But you don't want to die?" Vasilinda asked.
"No. Anybody in their right mind isn't ready to die," Doty said.
The Supreme Court's decision whether the men and women on death row stay there or go back to life imprisonment could be weeks or months away.
"I know how I feel, waking up every day with life in prison with no family. No friends," Doty said.
Doty sounded like a man conflicted, resigned to die, but saying the choice is out of his hands.
Doty is also the only death row inmate to say he wants to die in the electric chair instead of lethal injection, which is his choice under the statutes. He said he never liked needles.