Stay Of Execution Lifted For Miami Killer
MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) - The stay of execution for Marshall Lee Gore, the escort service owner convicted of killing two Florida women, has been lifted.
Gore, 49, had been scheduled to be executed at the Florida State Prison in Starke Monday evening but, less than two hours before he was to receive a lethal injection, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals approved an emergency motion filed by Gore's attorney.
The stay was lifted by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday, though a new date for Gore's execution has not been set.
Gore is charged with the killing 30-year-old exotic dancer Robyn Novick in 1988.
In Gore's attorney, Todd Scher, emergency motion, he argued that his execution would violate the Eighth Amendment, which forbids the state from carrying out a death sentence against a prisoner who is insane.
Gore's attorneys have argued before that he is mentally ill. One previous lawyer claimed Gore was "mentally deranged" and not responsible for his actions. But several judges concluded he was using a claim of mental illness to manipulate the judicial process.
When asked by a judge in the Novick case if he felt competent to proceed he replied, "I'm absolutely competent. I'm absolutely lucid." He had frequent verbal outbursts during the trial, laughed out loud and even howled.
A panel of doctors appointed by Gov. Rick Scott concluded in May that Gore was mentally competent to be executed.
In addition to Novick, Gore also was convicted and sentenced to death in the 1988 slaying of Susan Roark. Novick's body was found in a rural part of Miami-Dade County and Roark's body a few months later in Columbia County in northern Florida.
Gore initially denied knowing any of the women, but later testified they worked for him at an escort service.
Florida had two executions earlier this month: William Van Poyck was put to death on June 12 for the 1987 murder of a prison guard during a botched attempt to free another inmate. On May 29, the state executed Elmer Carroll for the 1990 rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl.
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