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.
