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State Supreme Court Rejects Appeal In Upcoming Execution

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
Florida Department of Corrections
/
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

The Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously turned down an appeal by Death Row inmate Cary Michael Lambrix, who is scheduled to be executed Oct. 5 for killing two people in 1983 near LaBelle.

The appeal, filed Aug. 31, contended, in part, that Lambrix was innocent because he killed in self-defense. Lambrix was convicted of murdering Aleisha Bryant and Clarence Moore after meeting them at a bar and inviting them to his mobile home for a spaghetti dinner.

Lambrix argued that Moore assaulted and killed Bryant. Lambrix said he tried to intervene and killed Moore in self-defense. But the Supreme Court, in a 14-page opinion Tuesday, rejected Lambrix's contention. The opinion said the self-defense argument first emerged three years after Lambrix's trial.

“There is no evidence, other than Lambrix's self-serving belated assertions of self-defense, that supports his theory,” the opinion said.

With the Oct. 5 execution nearing, Lambrix's attorneys also filed a brief Monday arguing that he should be resentenced because jurors did not unanimously recommend that he receive a death sentence.

The Supreme Court did not rule on that issue in Tuesday's opinion.