Speaker 1: Hey, folks, it is Tuesday, April twenty first, and a
Speaker 1: Florida man is on standby today hoping to hear from
Speaker 1: the Supreme Court because at this point they are the
Speaker 1: only ones who can save his life.
Speaker 2: And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Rohobes.
Speaker 2: Another execution on the books in this country, no surprise,
Speaker 2: this one's scheduled tonight in where else but the state
Speaker 2: of Florida.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 4: This will be Florida's fifth execution this evening, and they
Speaker 4: are on pace for a potentially a second record year
Speaker 4: of executions. Last year that state executed nineteen inmates. This
Speaker 4: will be their fifth. There's already another one scheduled for
Speaker 4: the end of this month.
Speaker 2: But here's the thing with them about Florida, and this
Speaker 2: is DeSantis. These are the only ones they have scheduled
Speaker 2: for the year, like this one and then the next one,
Speaker 2: and then that would be six for the year, and
Speaker 2: that would be done. But that's not how DeSantis rolls.
Speaker 4: And it would have seven, by the way, but James
Speaker 4: Duckett's execution was stayed. We're still waiting to see what
Speaker 4: happens with him with that DNA that was supposed.
Speaker 3: To be reanalyzed.
Speaker 4: So if you think about it, if they had already
Speaker 4: had seven by April, they could be if they stayed
Speaker 4: on this same pace, they could be up to twenty
Speaker 4: one by the end of the year.
Speaker 3: We don't know yet.
Speaker 2: To your point, it's where they DeSantis will sign them
Speaker 2: as they put him in front of him. And just
Speaker 2: like last year where they had their record number of nineteen,
Speaker 2: they didn't start the year with we got nineteen scheduled.
Speaker 2: They just keep popping up. So, yes, we're up to
Speaker 2: this number for them. It could end up it staying
Speaker 2: at this number. We don't expect that, but Rogues, we
Speaker 2: don't know how many of these things he's going to sign.
Speaker 3: We just know that he's willing to sign almost all
Speaker 3: of that.
Speaker 2: Any one you put in front of him will put
Speaker 2: his signature on.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 4: Tonight, it is fifty eight year old Chadwick Scott Willisey
Speaker 4: who is facing lethal injection. It is set to happen
Speaker 4: at six pm Eastern time tonight for a crime he
Speaker 4: committed nearly thirty six years ago. And that has often
Speaker 4: been the case in these crimes we're seeing now being
Speaker 4: finally adjudicated. Three decades, even four decades later, Florida has
Speaker 4: been piling up murderers who have been sitting on death
Speaker 4: row now for decades.
Speaker 2: Well, in most states don't have the most ords. Half
Speaker 2: and half have the death penalty. Some states have a
Speaker 2: moratorium on it. There are some states that go full there,
Speaker 2: going full steam ahead. And to Santos has taken another
Speaker 2: stance with Rogue, which Robes is, even if you against
Speaker 2: the death penalty, you are for punishment being doled out
Speaker 2: for us seeing through for families getting justice. This was
Speaker 2: the justice they sought, This was the justice they were
Speaker 2: told they could get. Why the hell they got away
Speaker 2: thirty six years for it. That's one argument on the
Speaker 2: Santo's side that I could I can see what he's
Speaker 2: trying to do. Robes. I was in junior high school
Speaker 2: when this woman was killed by this man. I have
Speaker 2: lived an entire lifetime and this family has been waiting
Speaker 2: that entire lifetime for this justice. Broh. There's something about
Speaker 2: that system that is wrong.
Speaker 4: That's right, and the son of the woman who was
Speaker 4: murdered will get into this brutal crime because it was brutal.
Speaker 4: But Marlus Maysather's son John has been waiting all this time.
Speaker 4: He plans to be at the execution, and he has
Speaker 4: certainly spoken out and spoken loudly about him wanting to
Speaker 4: see his mother's murderer die. And so, yes, we know
Speaker 4: that Chadwick Willisey's Supreme Court Florida Supreme Court efforts his
Speaker 4: appeal was denied last Wednesday. We are still a waiting
Speaker 4: for official word from the Supreme Court. But willisy has
Speaker 4: denied killing. He is denied being guilty of this murder,
Speaker 4: and he has made claims based on the state's refusal
Speaker 4: to grant public records requests about executions and specifically lethal injections.
Speaker 4: That's his argument to the Supreme Court as to why
Speaker 4: he shouldn't be executed. It has fallen short in the
Speaker 4: Florida State Supreme Court and likely will in the Supreme
Speaker 4: Court as well.
Speaker 2: He's not arguing about his innocence. No, he can say
Speaker 2: it all day long, out loud, but he is not
Speaker 2: in court presenting any evidence about his innocence. And also,
Speaker 2: roads we should mention, as we do in covering so
Speaker 2: many of these executions, there are some that have a
Speaker 2: ground swell of support screaming about re examining evidence. So
Speaker 2: there's a chance that you were executing an innocent man.
Speaker 2: This ain't that.
Speaker 4: No, And let's get into the crime itself, because this
Speaker 4: will probably solidify how you feel about this man. So
Speaker 4: this happened on September fifth, nineteen ninety TJ was in
Speaker 4: junior high school.
Speaker 3: I was in high school.
Speaker 4: And yes, we have fifty six year old marlus May Sather.
Speaker 4: She came home from work, actually early on her lunch break.
Speaker 4: Her husband had just died six weeks earlier of liver cancer.
Speaker 3: She was trying to sell his car, and she planned
Speaker 3: to meet somebody.
Speaker 4: So she walked in on then twenty four year old
Speaker 4: Chadwick Willisey robbing her home. This is a guy who
Speaker 4: used to mow her lawn, so she knew him. I
Speaker 4: can't imagine that moment she walks into the home and
Speaker 4: she sees him robbing her.
Speaker 2: Oh, look, she recognized. She knew who he was. Now
Speaker 2: at this point, why he made the decisions he made,
Speaker 2: we don't know. But he was, for whatever reason, set
Speaker 2: on making sure that she was not going to be
Speaker 2: able to report him for this crime.
Speaker 4: That is absolutely what people believe. He did not want
Speaker 4: to leave someone behind. But however, he wanted to make
Speaker 4: sure he got everything he could out of her, because,
Speaker 4: according to court records, he bludgeoned her, He tied her up,
Speaker 4: he strangled her with a telephone cord, and eventually she
Speaker 4: gave him her ATM PIN number. He took her car,
Speaker 4: he drove to her bank withdrew money for her account,
Speaker 4: and then he returned to her home disabled. The smoke
Speaker 4: detectors doused her in gasoline, put a fan at her feet,
Speaker 4: and then set her on fire. I cannot think of
Speaker 4: anything more cruel than that. And it's just a beyond
Speaker 4: disturbing scene that was discovered by her son in law.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so again we're not that this isn't that debate
Speaker 2: about guilt or innocence, and nobody's presenting to evidence. But
Speaker 2: the argument there and I don't understand why so many
Speaker 2: of these and they should get scrutiny robes these cases
Speaker 2: when you're talking about life or death, they should. But
Speaker 2: he's been on death row for thirty six years, and
Speaker 2: at some point doing the math there about a decade
Speaker 2: after he was convicted and got the death penalty, of
Speaker 2: jury came back and it was the death penalty was
Speaker 2: taken off the table. Then another jury came back and
Speaker 2: it was put on the table. So there's been plenty
Speaker 2: of legal back and forth. And in that I think
Speaker 2: about that family. That family has had to show up
Speaker 2: to all these court dates and all these proceedings to
Speaker 2: see what's going to happen to this guy that they
Speaker 2: were told was going to be executive or something he
Speaker 2: did to their family member. Why are they still waiting?
Speaker 2: They've gone through this back and forth, so they are waiting.
Speaker 2: This was the This is just the back and forth
Speaker 2: is just a lot, and the crime was just as
Speaker 2: horrific as it gets. So they're obviously the Santas is
Speaker 2: not going to step in. Don't have any anticipation that
Speaker 2: the Supreme Court will. But the argument they're making robes
Speaker 2: in the court is not one that any court has
Speaker 2: bought so far. So far, and look, there are some
Speaker 2: arguments we hear and we go hmm. This is one
Speaker 2: that really seems like throwing something against the wall and
Speaker 2: hoping something sticks. But they're out of options now. He's
Speaker 2: just trying to say, hey, we open up the process.
Speaker 2: We want to know more about the lethal injection process.
Speaker 2: And because you don't tell us more about the whole process,
Speaker 2: then you might be violating his rights. Huh, is the argument,
Speaker 2: and some judges have said.
Speaker 4: Huh exactly, and so they And obviously that's the way
Speaker 4: our system is set up, where a death row inmate
Speaker 4: gets to exhaust all options before his.
Speaker 3: Irrevocable sentence is imposed.
Speaker 4: But when you think about you mentioned the family having
Speaker 4: to sit through these trials, and when you look at
Speaker 4: the evidence at trial, despite the fact that he has
Speaker 4: maintained his innocence, Look, the evidence was overwhelming at trial.
Speaker 4: His fingerprints were on that fan that he put in
Speaker 4: front of her before he lit her on fire. His
Speaker 4: own girlfriend found her Sather's checkbook in his trash can,
Speaker 4: clothes in his home had blood consistent with her blood
Speaker 4: on it, and there were a number of items that
Speaker 4: were in his home that were Sather's items. So there
Speaker 4: were many smoking guns on this case, and it was
Speaker 4: clear that he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and
Speaker 4: certainly that jury found it. The only back and forth
Speaker 4: was over the death penalty himself. But the son I
Speaker 4: wanted to say a little bit about what John Sather
Speaker 4: has done, said, because we talk about this often, the
Speaker 4: family that's just waiting for justice, he said, I want
Speaker 4: to make sure that I see the warden say he's deceased.
Speaker 4: I want to make sure mom gets justice for someone
Speaker 4: coming in and stealing her life in a couple of heartbeats.
Speaker 4: And that is certainly powerful. And we often, I mean,
Speaker 4: we've said this, we it just the family's wishes have
Speaker 4: to be considered or should be considered in this case.
Speaker 4: And to know that the sun is waiting for this
Speaker 4: day and has been waiting for this day speaks volumes.
Speaker 4: When we come back, we're going to tell you what
Speaker 4: the final exchange John Sather said he had with his
Speaker 4: own mother, and we'll talk about Florida's plans for more
Speaker 4: executions along with the state of Texas for this month.
Speaker 4: And welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ.
Speaker 3: We are talking about.
Speaker 4: Florida's fifth execution set for six pm Eastern time tonight.
Speaker 4: Fifth for the year. This is the eighth in the country.
Speaker 4: Florida once again leading the way in executions already. We're
Speaker 4: at April of this year and they are on track
Speaker 4: for another record setting year. Fifty eight year old Chadwick
Speaker 4: Scott Willisey will die by lethal injection tonight for the
Speaker 4: brutal murder of Marlus May Sather. He literally set his
Speaker 4: neighbor on fire while robbing her. Now he has maintained
Speaker 4: his innocence, but the evidence that trial has been overwhelming,
Speaker 4: and it looks like the Supreme Court will not step
Speaker 4: in to stop That was his last option. Obviously, the
Speaker 4: governor is always the final last option. But we know
Speaker 4: that Governor DeSantis isn't typically known for doing so. No.
Speaker 2: He oh, he signs a lot of papers. They're not
Speaker 2: clemency papers.
Speaker 3: They're death warrants.
Speaker 4: Yes, And we've talked a little bit about this son,
Speaker 4: her son, John Sather, who has waited for justice for
Speaker 4: thirty six years. He talked about the last time he
Speaker 4: saw his mom ten days before her death at his
Speaker 4: thirty second birthday party, and he talked about how this
Speaker 4: was a subdued birthday party. His father had just passed
Speaker 4: from liver cancer. And this is one of those moments
Speaker 4: where you always remember the last words.
Speaker 3: And I think about this just.
Speaker 4: In daily exchanges with you, babe, with my kids, with
Speaker 4: people who you love, just to think you don't know,
Speaker 4: you don't know what's ahead. And he said, the one
Speaker 4: bit of peace he has is that the final exchange
Speaker 4: was he said, I love you, mom, and she said
Speaker 4: I love you too, John, And that's meaningful.
Speaker 3: You remember those moments.
Speaker 4: I think about that often when we cover cases like this,
Speaker 4: just about how we all live our lives and we
Speaker 4: don't know if evil's lurking around the corner, and certainly
Speaker 4: we cover it a lot here, So it's on my
Speaker 4: mind often.
Speaker 2: Oh know, too often we hear these stories and people
Speaker 2: will recite what they wish they'd said, or the opportunity
Speaker 2: they missed at the end. It's not often that a
Speaker 2: guy says, you know what I have at this moment,
Speaker 2: and as horrible as that thing that happened to her was,
Speaker 2: at least this gives me peace. So that is something
Speaker 2: as significant. And yeah, everybody has that experience, do they not.
Speaker 2: You get to a certain age rope, everybody has it.
Speaker 2: You find out somebody died unexpectedly, go wow, I meant
Speaker 2: to send them a message last week. I meant to respond,
Speaker 2: I meant to reach out, I meant to have lunch.
Speaker 2: This was nice to hear. At least we always find
Speaker 2: some love, some humanity, and some decency in these stories.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I felt like that was important to add because
Speaker 4: that I don't know. You read about these brutal crimes
Speaker 4: and these these unimaginable events that you have to live
Speaker 4: through and live beyond and live with in your heart.
Speaker 4: But to know that he had that final exchange actually
Speaker 4: brought me some peace reading about this. I love you, Mom,
Speaker 4: I love you too, John. I'm going to call my
Speaker 4: mom today for sure. But look, Florida is already said
Speaker 4: to execute another inmate at the end of this month,
Speaker 4: James Ernest Hitchcock, and Texas is going to execute a
Speaker 4: man named James Bordenag. These are both set to happen
Speaker 4: on April thirtieth. And look, as you pointed out, Babe,
Speaker 4: this just they keep they keep adding new dates, new inmates.
Speaker 4: And look, this country is and certainly certain states more
Speaker 4: than others. But Florida has been leading the way and
Speaker 4: making sure that it finds justice for families and families.
Speaker 4: It is remarkable to see just how long folks have
Speaker 4: had to wait to finally say I don't have to
Speaker 4: think about that person anymore. I don't have to wait
Speaker 4: for the next hearing, the next court date. And this
Speaker 4: is at least giving, at least we know from hearing
Speaker 4: directly from the victims family in this case, that this
Speaker 4: is a day they have been waiting for, they have
Speaker 4: been longing for, and will certainly give them closure and
Speaker 4: peace tonight. So we will of course follow any developments
Speaker 4: that may happen. But again, six pm tonight, Eastern time,
Speaker 4: fifty year eight year old Chadwick Scott Willisey will die
Speaker 4: by lethal injection in the state of Florida. We always
Speaker 4: appreciate you listening to us. Everyone on behalf of my
Speaker 4: of T J.
Speaker 3: Holmes. I made me roebock. We'll see you soon. M hmm.