Florida man convicted of killing 2 people outside a bar set to be put to death

A Florida man who was convicted in the 1993 shooting deaths of a man and woman outside a bar as part of an attempted revenge killing is set to be executed on Tuesday.

Michael Bernard Bell, 54, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection at Florida State Prison near the city of Starke, unless he is granted a last-day reprieve.

Bell was convicted in 1995 and sentenced to death in the killings of Jimmy West and Tamecka Smith.

In December 1993, Bell spotted what he suspected was the car of the man who had killed his brother earlier that year, according to court records. Bell appeared to be unaware that the man had sold the car to West.

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Bell called two friends and armed himself with an AK-47 before locating the car parked outside a liquor lounge and waiting for the vehicle owner to come outside. When West, Smith and another woman eventually exited the club, Bell approached the car and fired his gun, according to officials.

West died at the scene and Smith succumbed to her injuries on the way to the hospital. The other woman was not injured. 

Witnesses reported that Bell also fired at a crowd of onlookers before fleeing the scene.

Bell was arrested the following year.

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He was also later convicted of three additional murders that happened prior to the shooting at the bar. He fatally shot a woman and her toddler in 1989, and he killed his mother’s boyfriend about four months before shooting West and Smith, officials said.

Attorneys for Bell have filed appeals with the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.

In their state filing, the attorneys argued that Bell’s execution should be blocked because of newly discovered evidence concerning witness testimony. But justices unanimously rejected the argument last week, citing what they described as overwhelming evidence of Bell’s guilt.

Bell’s attorneys filed a similar petition with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, although the nation’s highest court has not yet issued a ruling as his execution time nears.

Bell would be the eighth person executed in Florida this year, and a ninth is scheduled for later this month. The state put six people to death in 2023, but only one execution happened last year.

Across the U.S., 25 men have been executed so far this year, matching last year’s total.

Florida has executed more people this year than any other state, while Texas and South Carolina are tied for second place with four each. The states that follow are Alabama with three executions and Oklahoma with two, while Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee each have put one person to death.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.