STARKE --
Hours before he was set to be executed by lethal injection, ex-Sweetwater cop Manuel Pardo visited with eight relatives and friends and enjoyed a Cuban-style last meal.
Pardo, who murdered nine people during a series of robberies in Miami-Dade in 1986, is to be executed at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison, just north of Gainesville.
Pardo, who brashly urged jurors to recommend the death penalty over two decades ago, is expected to issue a written statement to the press before he is put to death.
His last-minute appeal to stay the execution was denied late Tuesday afternoon by the U.S. Court of Appeals.
With less than an hour before his scheduled death, an unlikely intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court is his only hope for life in prison. On Monday, a Jacksonville federal judge declined to halt the execution.
According to a corrections spokeswoman, Pardo’s last meal Tuesday morning was roasted pork chunks, white rice and red beans, fried plantains with tomato and avocado, topped with olive oil. He finished off the meal with pumpkin pie and Cuban coffee. It was cooked in the prison kitchen and cost under $40.
He also met with a prison chaplain and retired Catholic bishop John Snyder, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Ann Howard.
“After visiting with family and friends, it’s best to describe him as calm,” Howard said.
Pardo and a cohort killed nine people in 1986, mostly ripping off drug dealers. Pardo also killed two women who had crossed him, and another woman who happened to be with a drug dealer he targeted.
At a 1988 trial in Miami-Dade, he admitted to the murders, saying he was ridding the streets of the “scum of the earth.”
“I’m not a criminal. I’m a soldier. As a soldier, I ask to be given the death penalty. I accomplished my mission,” he told jurors then, asking for a “glorious ending.”
A lawyer for Pardo — a former Florida highway patrolman, Boy Scout leader and decorated Navy veteran — argued he was insane at the time of the crimes. A jury rejected the claims and he was sentenced to death for all nine murders.
Over the next two decades, Pardo’s lawyers have insisted that he had been incompetent to stand trial because of a thyroid disorder that ravaged his mind.
Pardo’s lawyers also claim they had been denied all the public records on the state’s method of lethal injection, which they say is “cruel and unusual” punishment. After Gov. Rick Scott signed the death warrant in October, a Miami-Dade judge denied the appeals. The Florida Supreme Court upheld the judge’s decision.
In Monday’s order, U.S. Judge Timothy Corrigan said the claims were filed too late and that the state’s method of execution, which includes the injection of three drugs, has already been examined by the Florida Supreme Court and a federal appeals court.
Also on Tuesday, the Archdiocese of Miami planned a 6 p.m. vigil for Pardo at St. Mary Cathedral, 7525 NW 2nd Ave. The church opposes the death penalty.
In a press release acknowledging the severity of Pardo’s crimes, Archbishop Thomas Wenski said: “Recourse to the death penalty is both cruel and unnecessary. Modern society has the means of protecting itself. We do not make the case that killing is wrong by killing.”
For updates throughout the day, follow David Ovalle on Twitter at @davidovalle305.
Slated for execution, ex-Sweetwater cop enjoys Cuban-style last meal
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Slated for execution, ex-Sweetwater cop enjoys Cuban-style last meal
