Death sentences in two infamous Keys crimes could be reviewed

Death sentences for two men convicted of horrific murders in the Florida Keys could be among cases reviewed after recent rulings by the Florida Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court.

Of the 386 inmates on Florida’s Death Row, Thomas Overton, 60, and Michael Tanzi, 39, are the only inmates sentenced to death by courts in Monroe County.

The Florida Supreme Court basically ruled Oct. 14 that death sentences imposed with less than a unanimous vote by a jury are unconstitutional.

“That may reopen hundreds of cases,” Monroe County State Attorney Catherine Vogel said Friday. “I’d venture to say that most death-penalty cases were not a unanimous decision.”

Overton was convicted in 1999 of the infamous August 1991 murders of Susan “Missy” MacIvor, husband Michael MacIvor and their unborn child at their Tavernier home. Missy MacIvor, a popular teacher, was eight months pregnant when she was sexually assaulted and killed during a burglary.

Tanzi admitted kidnapping Miami Herald supervisor Janet Acosta from a Miami park in April 2000 to steal her van and later strangling her in the Lower Keys. He was arrested in Key West two days later and eventually pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, kidnapping and armed robbery.

A jury in a 2003 sentencing hearing voted 12-0 to sentence Tanzi to death.

“Since that was 12-0, it seems unlikely the Florida Supreme Court decision would have any effect on Tanzi,” Vogel said.

Overton’s jury, however, was not unanimous on its death sentences. Jurors voted 9-3 for death for killing Missy MacIvor and 8-4 for killing Michael MacIvor. Overton strangled both victims.

“The death penalty actually is very rarely imposed. It’s kept for the most heinous of crimes,” Vogel said. “All murders are awful, but strangling is a cruel method of killing.”

“We’ve been through all kinds of appeals and litigation on Overton so we’re hoping the court decision does not have any effect retroactively on that sentence,” the state attorney said. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

State Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office is working to clarify which cases the Oct. 14 ruling will affect.

Lloyd Chase Allen, convicted of murdering Lower Keys winter resident Dortha Gibbs at her Summerland Key home in November 1991, died in July 2015 while awaiting execution on death row.

This story was originally published October 26, 2016 at 12:52 PM with the headline "Death sentences in two infamous Keys crimes could be reviewed."