Nov. 8, 2025

"THE TRIAL, DEATH ROW & EXECUTION OF AILEEN WUORNOS - PART 2"

Show Notes
Transcript

Reid Carter concludes the Aileen Wuornos special with the betrayal that sealed her fate. January 1991: Police offered Tyria Moore full immunity to testify against Aileen—she took it immediately. Recorded eleven phone calls manipulating Aileen to confess. January 1992: Trial for Richard Mallory's murder. Jury never heard he was convicted rapist. Guilty verdict in two hours. Six death sentences total. Death row: mental deterioration, paranoid delusions, demanding execution. October 9, 2002: Florida executed her at forty-six. Final words were gibberish about Jesus and Independence Day. America created Aileen Wuornos, then killed her for being broken.

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Callaroga Shark Media, Good morning, I'm Red Carter. Sunday, November ninth,

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twenty twenty five. January sixteenth, nineteen ninety one, Vlusha County

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Jail interview room. Aileen Warno sits across from Detective Larry

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horsepa tape recorder running video camera rolling. She's been in

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custody for seven days, hasn't confessed, hasn't admitted anything, insists

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she's innocent, says she doesn't know anything about those murders,

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just a prostitute trying to survive. Then Detective Horzepa plays

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her something audio recording phone call from three days earlier,

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January thirteenth, Aileen calling her girlfriend Tiria Moore. Tyria is

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staying at a motel in Daytona Beach. Police are paying

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for the room and they've wired the phone. Aileen's voice

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on the tape, ty I love you. I'm not going

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to let them get you. You didn't do anything. I

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did this. It's all me. Tyria's voice shaking. Lee. I'm scared.

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The cops think I helped you. They're going to arrest me.

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They think we did this together. Aileen, No, listen to me.

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You just stay quiet. Tell them, you don't know anything.

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I'm the one who killed those guys. Not you, just me.

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You hear me, just me. That was call number three.

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There were eleven total eleven phone calls over three days,

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January tenth through January thirteenth. Police listening to every word,

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recording everything. Tiria working with them, following their script, manipulating

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Aileen into confessing, and it worked. After hearing the tapes,

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Aileen knew she'd been set up. New Tyria had betrayed her,

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knew it was over. She looked at Detective Horzeppa, took

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a breath and said, I killed Richard Mallory, and I

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killed the others too. I'm a serial killer. I would

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kill again. I just wanted to get their money and

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their cars. I shot them because I wanted to rob them.

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Just like that. Full confession. Seven murders, thirteen months, all

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admitted on tape. But then Aileen added something, something the

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prosecution didn't want to hear, something that complicated the narrative

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of the cold blooded serial killer. The first one Richard Mallory.

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He raped me, he tied me up, he hurt me.

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I shot him because he was going to kill me.

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That one was self defense, but the others, the others

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I just killed to take their stuff, self defense for

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the first robbery, murder for the rest, both things true

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at the same time. That's what makes this case different

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from every serial killer we've covered, because Richard Mallory wasn't innocent.

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He was a convicted rapist, and the jury never heard

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that fact, never knew convicted Aileen without knowing the first

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victim had a history of violent sexual assault. Yesterday we

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covered how Aileen Warnos became a killer. Today, how the

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justice system decided what to do with her, how Tyria

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Moore betrayed her completely, how Florida put a mentally ill

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woman to death while she was clearly insane, and how

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America created Aileen Warnos then executed her for being too

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broken to fix. I'm reed, Carter, this is Celebrity Trials,

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Part two of two, the Tyria Betrayal. Let's talk about

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Tyria Jolene Moore, twenty eight years old in January nineteen

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ninety one, the only person Aleen Warnos ever loved, the

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only person whoever made her feel human. January ninth, nineteen

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ninety one, Aileen was arrested at the Last Resort Bar.

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Police didn't have enough evidence yet to charge her with murder,

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held her on outstanding warrant for firearms possession, bought themselfel's

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time to build the case. Meanwhile, Tyria was in Pennsylvania

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staying with her sister. Knew the police were looking for her,

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knew her face was all over the news. Knew it

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was only a matter of time. January tenth, police flew

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to Pennsylvania, knocked on her sister's door. Tyria answered. They

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asked her to come in for questioning. She agreed, didn't resist,

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didn't lawyer up, just went with them at the station.

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They laid it out. We know you lived with Aileen Warnos,

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we know you were with her during these murders. We

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found stolen property from victims in your shared apartment. You're

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an accessory to seven murders. You're looking at life in

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prison or death penalty. Florida loves the death penalty. Then

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they offered the deal, full immunity, no charges, walk away free.

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All she had to do was help them get Alien's confession,

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testify at trial, tell them everything she knew. Tyria took

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it immediately, didn't hesitate, didn't think about it, didn't consider

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that Aileen had supported her for four years. Didn't consider

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that Aileen loved her completely. Didn't consider anything except saving herself.

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Police set up the operation, flew Tyia back to Florida,

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put her in a motel room in daytona Beach wired

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the phone, gave her a script, told her what to say,

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how to manipulate Aileen, how to make her confess to

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protect Tiria. January tenth through January thirteenth, eleven phone calls.

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Aileen called collect from jail. Tiria answered, police listening on

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the other line, recording everything. Call one Tiria crying, Lee,

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I love you. I'm so scared the police of following me.

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They think I helped you. Aileen, you didn't do anything.

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I did it. You're innocent. Just tell them you don't

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know anything. Call two Tiria escalating. They showed me pictures, Lee,

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pictures of those men. They said you can killed them.

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They said, I was with you. Lee. I can't go

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to prison. I can't, Aileen, You're not going to prison.

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I won't let that happen. You didn't kill anyone I did.

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Just me. Call three Tiria, following the script, Lee, They're

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going to arrest me. My family's telling me to get

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a lawyer, but I don't have money for a lawyer.

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What do I do? Aileen, listen to me. You didn't

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do this. Tell them the truth. I killed those men.

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You weren't there, you didn't know. I'm not going to

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let you go down for something I did. By call five,

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Aileen was explicit. I killed them, Tie, I shot them,

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I took their money, I took their cars. You didn't

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have anything to do with it. You just tell them that.

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By call eight, Aileen was begging, please just tell them

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you're innocent, because you are. I love you. I'm not

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going to let them hurt you. Call eleven Aileen's final

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words before confessing, I'm going to tell them everything. I'm

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going to confess. That way they'll leave you alone. I

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love you, Ty, You're the only person I ever loved.

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Tiria Moore accomplished her mission, got the confession, secured her immunity,

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and destroyed the only person who ever loved her. January sixteenth,

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nineteen ninety one, after hearing those tapes, Aileen gave her

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full confession to Detective Horzepa admitted to killing Richard Mallory

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David Spears Charles Carskadden, Troy Burris, Dick Humphreys, and Walter

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Antonio couldn't be charged with Peter Seems because his body

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was never found, but she confessed to that one too.

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Tiria Moore testified at the trial. Took the stand, told

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the jury about stolen property in their apartment, about Aileen

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coming home with different cars, about the money, about the belongings,

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about how Aileen admitted killing men. Never mentioned that she'd

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lived off that money, Never mentioned that she knew what

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Aileen was doing, never mentioned that she'd spent four years

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benefiting from those crimes. Just painted herself as an innocent

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bystander who had no idea her girlfriend was a serial killer.

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The jury believed her, why wouldn't they. She had immunity,

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she was cooperating. She was the state's key witness. After

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the trial, Tyria Moore changed her name, disappeared, moved somewhere

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in Pennsylvania, never spoke publicly again, never gave interviews, never

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expressed remorse, never acknowledged her role in Aileen's life or death.

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Aileen Warnos spent the rest of her life on death row.

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Tiria Moore walked free. Make it make sense? The only

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person Aileen ever loved, the only person who made her

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feel human, and Tyria sold her out in eleven phone

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calls to save herself. Will tell you that's justice, that

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Tyria made the right choice, that she was a victim too,

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trapped with a serial killer, doing what she had to

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do to survive. But here's what the record shows. Tyria

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Moore lived with Aileen Warnos through the entire killing spree.

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Saw the stolen cars, saw the stolen property, spent the

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stolen money, knew exactly what was happening, and never went

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to police, never tried to stop it, never did anything

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except benefit from it. Then when she got caught, she

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traded alien's life for her freedom and walked away without

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a scratch. Your tax dollars at work. The trial ten minutes,

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January fourteenth, nineteen ninety two, Volucia County Circuit Court, d Land, Florida,

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Judge Uriel Blount, Junior, Presiding State of Florida versus Aileen

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Carrol Warnos, charged with first degree murder of Richard Mallory,

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one count. The state was smart, they'd try her for

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the first killing, the one where she claimed self defense

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if they could get a conviction on that one. The

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other six would be easy. Lead Prosecutor John Tanner, Assistant

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State Attorney defense public defenders Tricia Jenkins, William Miller, and

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Billy Knowles. Aileen couldn't afford private attorneys got whatever overworked

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underfunded public defenders the state assigned. The prosecution's theory was simple,

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Aileen Warnos was a cold blooded serial killer who murdered

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Richard Mallory for his money and car. Self defense was

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a lie. Evidence proved premeditation, robbery and murder one. The

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defense's theory, Aileen Warnos was a prostitute who'd been raped, beaten,

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and abused by John's her entire life. Richard Mallory violently

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raped her on November thirtieth, nineteen eighty nine. She fought back,

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shot him in self defense, then panicked, took his car,

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and fled. Didn't go to police because she was a

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prostitute with a criminal record who knew nobody would believe her.

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Both theories made sense, Both could be true. The jury

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would decide which one they believed. Jury selection took three days.

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Mostly white, mostly middle aged, mostly middle class people who'd

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never been prostitutes, never lived on the streets, never been

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in Aleen's world. They were going to judge her through

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their lens, their morality, their understanding of right and wrong.

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January fourteenth, Opening statements, Prosecutor John Tanner laid out the

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case methodical, factual, clinical. Richard Mallory, fifty one, electronics repair

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shop owner, disappeared November thirtieth, nineteen eighty nine. Body found

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December thirteenth in the woods off E seventy five, shot

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three times with a point two two caliber pistol, once

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in the left shoulder, once in the chest, once in

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the neck. Medical examiner testified at least one shot was

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fired from behind while Mallory was turned away, possibly fleeing.

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Mallory's Cadillac was found abandoned, his belongings pawned at shops

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in DAYTONA beach thumb print on the pawn shop records

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matched Aileen Warnos. She'd used a fake name, Cammi marsh Green,

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but her print gave her away. Ballistics matched the twenty

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two pistol found in Aileen's possession when she was arrested.

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Same gun killed Mallory, Same gun killed Spears, Carscadden, Buris, Humphreys, Antonio,

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seven men, one gun, one killer, Tanner played Aleen's confession tape,

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her voice, matter of fact, I killed him. I shot him.

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I took his money and his car. I'd do it again.

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But then the defense got their turn, and they told

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a different story. Tricia Jenkins, lead defense attorney, stood before

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the jury, described Aileen's life raped as a child, pregnant

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at fourteen, homeless at fifteen, prostituting to survive, thirty three

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years old, working Interstate seventy five, getting into cars with

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strange men because that's the only way she knew how

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to make money. November thirtieth, nineteen eighty nine, Aileen got

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into Richard Mallory's Cadillac. They agreed on fifty dollars. He

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drove to a remote dirt road. Then he became violent.

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Aileen testified in her own defense. Took the stand January

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twenty third. Wore a blue dress, hair pulled back, glasses,

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looked small, vulnerable, spoke in a quiet voice. She told

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the jury he raped me. He tied my wrists to

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the steering wheel with my own belt. He told me

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to shut up or he'd kill me. He'd beat me.

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He sodomized me. I was screaming, I was crying. He

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said nobody could hear me, that he was going to

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kill me. When he was done, she said, she managed

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to get her gun from her bag shot him. I

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thought he was going to kill me. I had to

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stop him. It was him or me. The prosecutor cross

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examined her hard, relentless. Why did you shoot him three times?

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Why did you take his money? Why did you take

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his car? Why didn't you call police? Why didn't you

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report the rape? Aileen tried to answer, because I'm a prostitute,

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because I have a record, because nobody would believe me,

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because I was scared. But you weren't too scared upawn

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his belongings. You weren't too scared to drive his car

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around for two weeks. You weren't too scared to keep killing.

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That's what destroyed her, not the first killing, the six

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that came after. If Richard Mallory really raped her, if

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that first killing really was self defense, why did she

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keep killing? Why six more men? Why thirteen months of murder?

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Aileen had no good answer. I don't know. I needed money,

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he needed their cars. I don't know. But here's the

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critical fact. The jury never heard the fact that wasn't

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discovered until years later, the fact that might have changed everything.

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Richard Mallory had a criminal record. Convicted in nineteen fifty

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seven in Maryland attempted rape, violent sexual assault, served ten

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years in prison. The defense didn't know, Prosecutors didn't disclose it.

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Possibly didn't know either. Background checks in nineteen ninety two

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weren't as thorough. His Maryland conviction didn't show up in

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Florida records, so nobody knew. Nobody told the jury. Nobody

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presented evidence that Richard Mallory was exactly the kind of

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violent rapist Aileen said he was. Imagine if the jury

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had heard that, ladies and gentlemen, the victim in this

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case spent ten years in prison for attempting to violently

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rape another woman. The defendant claims he raped her. Is

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that claim really so unbelievable? But they didn't hear it.

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They just heard prostitute kills john, takes his money, takes

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his car, keeps killing serial killer. January twenty seventh, nineteen

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ninety two. The jury deliberated ninety one minutes, less than

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two hours. They'd heard two weeks of testimony, seen crime

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scene photos, heard expert witnesses, listened to Aileen's confession, watched

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her testify ninety one minutes. That's all it took to

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decide the verdict guilty of first degree murder. Aileen showed

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no emotion, just sat there, staring straight ahead. The only

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person she'd ever loved had betrayed her. The system had

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failed her again, same as it always had, same as

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her whole life. January thirty first, nineteen ninety two sentencing hearing,

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Judge Blount asked if Aileen had anything to say. She stood,

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looked at the judge said I'm innocent. I was raped.

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I hope you get raped scumbags of America. Thank you.

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Judge Blount sentenced her to death. Electrocution fled, Florida's preferred

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method at the time, later switched to lethal injection. One down,

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six to go. March nineteen ninety two. Rather than face

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six more trials, Aileen took a deal, pleaded guilty to

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the murders of David Spears, Charles Carscadden, Troy Burris, Dick Humphreys,

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and Walter Antonio. Pleaded no contest to Peter Seems's murder.

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Body was never found, but she confessed five more death

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sentences six total, plus nine hundred and fifty seven years

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for various robbery and firearms charges. Aileen Warnos, thirty five

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years old, was going to die in prison. The only

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question was when the jury in the Mallory trial was

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later interviewed asked if knowing about his rape conviction would

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have changed their verdict. Some said yes, some said maybe.

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Some said they still would have convicted her because of

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the other six murders, but will never know because they

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didn't hear it. And Aleen Warnos was condemned to death

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based on incomplete information. Your tax dollars at work. A

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woman claims self defense against a convicted rapist, the jury

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never hears he was a convicted rapist, She gets the

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death penalty. Make it make sense. We'll be right back

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with Aileen Warnos on death row, her mental deterioration, her

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paranoid delusions, her demand to be executed, and October ninth,

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two thousand and two, the Dave, Florida gave her exactly

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what she wanted. Aileen Warnos arrived at Broward Correctional Institution

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in Pembroke Pines, Florida, death row for women. Maximum security

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death row is different from general population solitary confinement twenty

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three hours a day in a six x nine foot cell,

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one hour of exercise, no contact visits, no physical touch

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except handcuff when guards move you. Alien was assigned cell

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number twenty two. Concrete walls, steel door, small window, toilet, sink, bed,

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nothing else. For the first few years, she maintained hope.

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Appeals were automatic. Death penalty cases take years, sometimes decades.

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Maybe the appeals court would overturn her conviction. Maybe they'd

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discover the evidence about Mallory's rape conviction. Maybe something would

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save her. She got mail, lots of it. Supporters from

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around the world, women who saw themselves in her story,

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abuse survivors, former prostitutes, people who believed she'd been railroaded.

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They sent money to her commissary account. She bought cigarettes, magazines, snacks,

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small comforts. She also got hate mail, people calling her evil,

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telling her she deserved to die, describing in detail how

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they hoped she'd suffer during execution. Aileen read it all

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good and bad, wrote responses to explain herself, tried to

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make people understand. But as the years passed, something changed.

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Her mental health deteriorated. Paranoid delusions emerged. She started believing

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the prison staff was conspiring against her. She told visitors,

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they're poisoning my food, making me fat so everyone will

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laugh at me. They put chemicals in it to humiliate me.

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They're torturing me with radio waves, beaming sounds into my

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cell at night. I can't sleep. They're trying to drive

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me insane. They're making money off me, selling my story.

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Everyone's profiting except me. That last one was true. Multiple

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documentaries had been made, books written, movies in development. Everyone

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was profiting from Aileen Warnos's story. Lawyers, filmmakers, journalists, everyone

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except Aileen. Nineteen ninety two, British filmmaker Nick Broomfield released

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Aileen Warnos, The Selling of a Serial Killer. Interviewed Aileen

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in prison, exposed how her adoptive mother and lawyer were

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trying to sell her story for profit. Showed the exploitation

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happening in real time. Aileen was furious, felt used, felt

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like even in prison, people were taking from her, same

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as her whole life, people using her, taking what they wanted,

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leaving her with nothing. Her paranoia grew. She believed corrections

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officers were plotting to kill her. Believed other inmates were

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hired assassins. Believed everyone was part of a massive conspiracy.

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Some of it was mental illness, some of it was

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PTSD from decades of abuse. Some of it was the

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reality of death row, isolation, deprivation, waiting to die that

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breaks people, even people who aren't already broken. By two

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thousand and one, Aileen was done, done fighting, done appealing,

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done waiting. She fired her lawyers announced she wanted to die.

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I killed those men, I robbed them as hold his ice,

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and I'd do it again too. There's no point in

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keeping me alive. Just execute me, get it over with.

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Her lawyers tried to stop her. Filed motions, arguing she

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was mentally incompetent, that she couldn't make rational decisions, that

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executing someone with her level of mental illness violated the

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Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The state

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brought in psychiatrists evaluated her, Asked if she understood she

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was going to die, Asked if she understood the appeals process,

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Asked if she was competent to make this decision. The

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psychiatrist said, yes, she understood, she was competent, she wanted

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to die, and she had the legal right to drop

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her appeals. That's how low the bar is for competency

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and death penalty cases. You don't have to be mentally healthy,

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you don't have to be free from delusions. You just

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have to understand that you're going to be executed and

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that appeals could delay it. That's it. That's the standard.

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Aileen understood she was going to die. She wanted it

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to happen. Therefore, she was competent. Make it make sense.

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A woman with obvious paranoid delusions, obvious PTSD, obvious severe

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mental illness, and the state says she's competent enough to

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demand her own execution your tax dollars at work. The

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Florida Supreme Court agreed, ruled Aileen was competent to drop

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her appeals, scheduled execution for October ninth, two thousand and two.

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In her final months, Aileen gave interviews, told reporters, I'm

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one who seriously hates human life and would kill again.

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Changed her story about the murders. Now claimed all seven

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victims tried to rape her. All seven contradicted her earlier

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confession where she said six were just robbery murders. Now

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said they were all self defense. Was she lying before lying?

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Now genuinely couldn't remember, had the delusions taken over complete.

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Nobody knew, nobody could tell what was truth and what

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was psychosis. But it didn't matter. The execution was scheduled.

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Florida was going to kill Aileen Warnos, and she was

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going to let them. October ninth, two thousand and two,

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Florida State Prison, Starka, Florida, nine narra Am Aileen Warnos,

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forty six years old, was led from her cell to

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the execution chamber. She'd been on death row for ten

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years and eight months, longer than she'd expected, not as

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long as some. Florida had switched from electrocution to lethal

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injection in two thousand three. Drugs first sodium thiopental, a

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sedative that renders you unconscious, Second pancuronium bromide, a paralytic

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that stops breathing. Third potassium chloride, which stops the heart.

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Aileen was strapped to a gurney, armed extended ivs inserted

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into both arms back up in case one failed. She

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was covered with a white sheet up to her chest.

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Witnesses were present Arlene Prala, Aileen's adoptive mother. Strange story there.

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Prala was a born again Christian who adopted Aileen while

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she was in prison, said God told her to wanted

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to save Aileen's soul. Dawn Botkins, Aileen's childhood friend from Michigan,

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one of the few people from her past who never

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abandoned her. Media witnesses, victim family representatives, prison officials all

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watching through the glass. The warden asked if Aileen had

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any final words. She did, Yes, I'd just like to say,

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I'm sailing with the rock and I'll be back, like

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Independence Day with Jesus June sixth, like the movie Big

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Mothership and all I'll be back. I'll be back incoherent

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delusional rambling about the movie Independence Day, about motherships, about

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coming back with Jesus, the words of someone clearly obviously

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mentally ill, but legally competent enough to be executed. Nine

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forty seven am, the first drug was administered, sodium thiopental.

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Aileen's eyes closed, She appeared to lose consciousness within seconds,

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then the paralytic her breathing stopped, body went still, then

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potassium chloride. Heart stopped. Nine forty seven a m pronounced dead.

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Aileen Carol Warnos, forty six years old born February twenty ninth,

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nineteen fifty six. Died October ninth, two thousand and two.

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Her body was removed, transported to a funeral home, cremated

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per her wishes, no funeral, no service, no mourners. Her

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ashes were given to Don Botkins. Dawn scattered them under

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a tree in Michigan, same woods where Aleen had lived

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as a homeless teenager, where she'd slept in abandoned cars,

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where she'd traded sex for food. Aileen Warnos came from

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those woods, and in the end, that's where she returned.

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Outside the prison, protesters gathered two groups. One side justice

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for the victims, execute the killer, the other side, don't

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execute the mentally ill. Aileen was a victim too. Both

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sides were right, both sides were wrong because Aileen Warnos

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was both victim and killer, abused and abuser, destroyed and destroyer.

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News helicopters circled overhead. Reporters broadcast live America's first female

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serial killer has been executed. Made it sound like an accomplishment,

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like she'd achieved something. First woman to kill like a man,

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