Encore: Witness to an Execution

2025-12-11

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This encore presentation revisits one of the most unsettling stories ever featured on DEVIANT. It is a firsthand account of the execution of Gainesville Ripper Danny Rolling, as witnessed by veteran South Florida journalist Michael Mayo. Mayo covered two Florida executions in his 31-year career. What he saw, and what he did not expect to feel, stayed with him. In this conversation with DEVIANT host Dan Szematowicz, Mayo walks us through the days leading up to Rolling’s death: meeting the families of the victims, e...

Mayo covered two Florida executions in his 31-year career. What he saw, and what he did not expect to feel, stayed with him. In this conversation with DEVIANT host Dan Szematowicz, Mayo walks us through the days leading up to Rolling’s death: meeting the families of the victims, entering Florida’s death chamber, hearing the condemned man sing a self-written hymn moments before the chemicals flowed, and grappling with what executions mean for justice, closure, and the people left behind.

It is a stark and unvarnished look at an experience few ever witness. It also raises hard questions about punishment, memory, and the weight of what the state asks us to carry.

This is a rerelease of a previous DEVIANT episode. New episodes return next week.

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