A man convicted of strangling and killing a couple at their Tavernier home in 1991 will be executed following a death warrant signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Oct. 21.
In 1996, Thomas Mitchell Overton was arrested following a breakthrough in the case. A jury subsequently convicted him of first-degree murder in the deaths of Michael and Susan MacIvor. Jurors also recommended he be put to death.
By March 1999, he was sentenced to death for the murders.
Decades later, Overton’s death warrant was signed by the governor. He’s locked up in the Florida State prison facility in Raiford and is set to be put to death on Nov. 19 at 6 p.m.
This is the 20th death warrant signed by DeSantis this year.
According to investigators, the MacIvors were found blind-folded and strangled to death inside their residence. Susan was eight months pregnant at the time. The baby lived up to 30 minutes after his mother died, and there was evidence he attempted to breathe on his own.
He was also convicted of burglary and sexual assault. Investigators determined through evidence collection that Overton raped Susan. Investigators found presumptive seminal stains on her pubic area, buttocks and inner thighs and on fitted sheet and mattress pad. Swabs from her body failed to reveal the presence of sperm cells. But subsequent testing established that the DNA in the stains from the bedding matched Overton’s DNA.
The Florida Supreme Court affirmed his convictions and sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari. In the following years, Overton, now 70, attempted post-conviction litigation in state and federal courts. Those tries were unsuccessful, as he was denied post-conviction relief.
A letter by James Uthmeier to DeSantis states there are no stays of execution issued by any court in this case.
