By John R. Byrne
America is fascinated by serial killers. If you need more proof of that, HBO Max is streaming yet another documentary on Aileen Wuornos, the woman who was convicted of murdering six men. The documentary is titled "Unmasking a Monster." There have been multiple dramatizations of the Wuornos story, including, most famously, the movie "Monster," which earned Charlize Theron an Oscar for her portrayal of Wuornos.
How does this relate to the SDFL, you ask? Judge Raag Singhal actually represented Wuornos. Not at trial, though. His involvement came later. A Broward County judge appointed him to represent Wuornos in connection with complaints she had about her treatment in state prison. In that capacity, Judge Singhal wrote a letter to the justices of the Florida Supreme Court expressing concern about Wuornos's mental condition and, more specifically, whether she was competent to be executed. I'm linking to it here. Acknowledging that Wuornos herself was essentially asking to be executed, Singhal wrote: “It would seem to me that we should not be eager to execute an individual simply because she is a volunteer.” You can hear Judge Singhal's voice when you read that line, right?
The letter got the Court's attention. The Court treated Singhal’s concerns as a claim that Wuornos might not be competent to be executed and referred the matter to then-Governor Jeb Bush. A few days later, Bush temporarily stayed the execution and ordered that Wuornos be examined by three psychiatrists. They ultimately concluded that she was competent to be executed, and Bush lifted the stay. Wuornos was executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002.
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