Florida Man Scheduled for Execution in Revenge Killing Case

Michael Bernard Bell, 54, is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted in 1995 and sentenced to death for the murders of Jimmy West and Tamecka Smith. The execution is set to proceed unless a last-day reprieve is granted.

Bell's execution would mark the eighth in Florida this year, with another scheduled later in the month. The state executed six people in 2023, a significant increase from the single execution carried out the previous year. Nationally, the number of executions this year has reached 25, matching the total from last year.

Florida leads the nation in executions this year. Texas and South Carolina are tied for second place, each having carried out four executions. Alabama has executed three people, while Oklahoma has executed two. Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee have each executed one person.

The murders for which Bell was convicted stemmed from an attempted revenge killing in December 1993. Bell believed he had identified the car of the man who had killed his brother earlier that year. Unbeknownst to Bell, the car had been sold to Jimmy West.

Bell, accompanied by two friends and armed with an AK-47 rifle, waited outside a liquor lounge where they found the car. When West, Smith, and another woman exited the club, Bell opened fire. West died at the scene, and Smith died on the way to the hospital. The other woman was unharmed. Witnesses reported that Bell also fired at bystanders before fleeing. He was apprehended the following year.

Bell was also convicted of three additional murders. He fatally shot a woman and her toddler son in 1989, and he killed his mother’s boyfriend approximately four months before the attack on West and Smith.

Bell's attorneys have filed appeals with both the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. The state filing argued for a halt to the execution based on newly discovered evidence related to witness testimony. However, the Florida justices unanimously rejected this argument, citing the overwhelming evidence of Bell's guilt. A similar petition was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, but a ruling has not yet been issued.