A killer who described himself and his girlfriend as a "modern-day Bonnie and Clyde" was executed in Florida's electric chair Friday for shooting two officers 14 years ago.
Jessie Joseph Tafero was electrocuted at 7:13 a.m. at Florida State Prison, eight hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay of execution, exhausting his last appeal, the governor's office announced.Tafero, 43, was the 22nd person put to death in Florida since 1979 and the 124th to die in the United States since the Supreme Court restored states' rights to execute prisoners in 1976.
It took three jolts of electricity to kill Tafero, and flames were visible from his hooded head. "There was a fault in the headpiece. It was not (human) tissue that was burning. It was the headpiece," prison spokesman Bob Mcmaster said.