DeSantis temporarily halts Miami killer’s execution amid concerns about dementia

The execution of a Miami Death Row inmate who beat and tortured a woman to death was “temporarily stayed” after his attorneys raised concerns about his mental capacity, including him possibly having dementia.

Read more DeSantis temporarily halts Miami killer’s execution amid concerns about dementia

In an executive order signed Thursday evening, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis paused the execution and appointed three psychiatrists to examine 74-year-old William Thompson, convicted of the March 30, 1976, killing of 23-year-old Sally Ivester, who had moved to Miami from Georgia with the hope of starting a new life.

Thompson, then 23, and Rocco James Surace, then 30, beat Ivester with chains, burned her with cigarettes and assaulted her with a chair leg during the horrific ordeal inside the Sunny Isles Motel at 16375 Biscayne Blvd. in North Miami Beach. Ivester died of shock and internal injuries. (Surace died in prison in 1993.)

The details of Ivester’s murder are so haunting that a juror fainted during Thompson’s trial. Police called it “Dade’s meanest murder,” according to the Miami Herald’s archives.

READ MORE: Miami killer has an execution date, but concerns about dementia could alter that

If the panel of psychiatrists determines that Thompson has the mental capacity to understand why he is under a sentence of death, his execution will proceed as scheduled on Oct. 13 at Florida State Prison in Raiford.

Under Florida law, if there are concerns that a condemned prisoner facing execution is insane, the governor has to put the execution on hold and appoint three psychiatrists to examine the inmate. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a person who lacks a rational understanding of the reasons for their execution cannot be put to death.

DeSantis appointed Dr. Wade Myers, Dr. Tonia Werner and Dr. Emily Lazarou to evaluate Thompson on Oct. 10. Thompson’s attorneys and a prosecutor can be present during the assessment. The experts must report their findings to the governor’s office by the following day.

If Thompson is determined to not have the mental capacity to understand the proceedings, he will be placed in a Department of Corrections mental-health treatment facility until “such time as he has been restored to sanity and the sentence of death may be executed,” according to the governor’s order.

In his order, DeSantis pointed out how Thompson’s attorneys said Robert Ouaou, a Naples neuropsychologist, “opined that Mr. Thompson meets the criteria for insanity due to his dementia and significant cognitive decline as Mr. Thompson lacks the mental capacity to understand the fact of his impending execution and the reason for it.”

Thompson’s attorneys raised concerns about his mental state and deteriorating health in an emergency petition filed in the Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday. The petition, penned by attorney Brittney Lacy, requests that the Florida Department of Corrections immediately transport Thompson to a hospital to provide medical treatment because his health “requires emergent medical care.”

“He could not give counsel any details about his hospital stays,” Lacy said in the filing. When he was asked about some of his recent procedures, including a surgery, he “did not understand” and “appeared unaware.”

When Ouaou evaluated Thompson, he concluded that Thompson appeared to be disoriented and “expressed numerous times that he was in severe pain,” according to the filing. Thompson was shackled to his wheelchair during the evaluation and appeared “too weak to freely move his arms or extremities.”

Read more DeSantis temporarily halts Miami killer’s execution amid concerns about dementia

In the petition, Lacy details several recent hospitalizations in Tallahassee, Jacksonville and Gainesville during which medical staff noted that Thompson had “rapid deterioration” of his health and a “knowledge deficit.”

Medical professionals at the prison assessed Thompson and noted that he was disoriented, walking unsteadily and had “a change in mental status,” according to the filing. Thompson “did not know who the president was. Stated it was Bush” and was “unable to verbally respond” to a nurse’s questions.

Since his death warrant was signed on Sept. 11, Thompson has been in a death-watch cell at Florida State Prison. Prisoners whose execution dates are approaching are placed in a death-watch cell, an isolated and closely monitored cell feet away from the execution chamber.

In the filing, Lacy says the cell is not equipped with the necessary medical equipment — and Thompson has not been provided a medical professional who can care for his wounds.

A twisted torture murder

Thompson and Surace, court records state, ordered Ivester to ask her parents for money. When she came up with only $25, they were enraged. Surace took off his chain belt and began beating Ivester, and Thompson also beat Ivester — with the belt, a chair leg and a night stick.

During the course of several hours, Ivester also was sexually assaulted, kicked and left to die, according to reports at the time in the Herald.

READ MORE: Miami Death Row inmate to be executed for 1976 motel torture murder

The men only stopped the attack, the Herald’s reports say, when they hauled Ivester to a phone booth and forced her to call her mother for more money. Ivester’s mother, Betty June Ivester, recalled that her daughter sounded as if there was a “death rattle” in her voice when she called.

“ ’I’m all right. I’m all right. I’m going to be all right,’ ” Betty June said her daughter told her, according to the Herald’s report at the time.

In 1976, Thompson and Surace pleaded guilty to Ivester’s murder and received death sentences. But the case dragged on for decades.

Both Thompson and Surace appealed and were granted new trials. Thompson again pleaded guilty, and in 1978 was sentenced to die. Surace was found guilty of second-degree murder after Thompson took the stand and accepted all the blame. Surace was sentenced to 203 years and died in prison in 1993.

In 1989, a third jury recommended that Thompson be executed, and a judge sent him back to Florida’s Death Row.

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