Officer To Be Executed For Murders

A Florida police officer will be executed Tuesday for a series of murders committed in the 1980s, unless his lawyers can successfully postpone the execution.

The officer to be executed is Manuel Pardo, 56, who was convicted on nine counts of murder in 1988. The former Naval officer and Marines reservist was also a Florida Highway Patrol officer in the late 1970s and 1980s. He was fired from his job in 1985, after falsely testifying in a case on police corruption.

That's when the officer to be executed snapped, according to his lawyers. They claim that the stress of losing his job, coupled with an undiagnosed disease, are the underlying causes of his actions. Pardo's attorneys said Monday that Florida's new protocol for lethal injection has the potential to be mixed improperly, which would violate their client's civil rights.

Pardo admitted to the murders in court, claiming that he was acting as a vigilante.

Pardo is scheduled to be executed Tuesday at 6PM, unless the Supreme Court agrees to hear his case.