Speaker 1: Hey, folks, it is Tuesday, March seventeenth, and Florida it's
Speaker 1: scheduled to carry out its fourth execution of the year tonight,
Speaker 1: and it's for a crime that made national headlines and
Speaker 1: ultimately changed the way nine to one point one operators
Speaker 1: function in the state of Florida.
Speaker 2: And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Robes.
Speaker 2: In terms of how long people spend on death row,
Speaker 2: this is actually, first of all, point out a case
Speaker 2: that happened pretty quickly to go from conviction to execution.
Speaker 3: Yes, he was convicted in two thousand and nine, the
Speaker 3: crime was committed in two thousand and eight, and yes,
Speaker 3: less than twenty years on death row is actually a
Speaker 3: speedy period of time between conviction and execution.
Speaker 2: These days, unheard of, it seems almost this is really
Speaker 2: certain under two decades, that's something.
Speaker 3: Yes, and this was a tremendous case. It's interesting when
Speaker 3: we have been covering a lot of these executions, many
Speaker 3: times we will focus on the inmate who is being executed,
Speaker 3: correct his appeals, his claims of innocence, and he due
Speaker 3: process that was denied him. This story, in so many ways,
Speaker 3: is more about the victim and what happened because of
Speaker 3: the crime, and.
Speaker 2: We should certainly point out that should always be the case,
Speaker 2: that should always be the focal point. But this one
Speaker 2: for unique reasons that you'll hear hear why this crime
Speaker 2: made national headlines. It's understandable now and robes. Michael Lee
Speaker 2: King is the name. He's fifty four years old years
Speaker 2: old now, but he is scheduled to die by lethal
Speaker 2: injection tonight. They do a three drug cocktail down there
Speaker 2: in Florida, but's supposed to happened around six o'clock. We
Speaker 2: do end up seeing robes usually by six fifteen, six'
Speaker 2: twenty that we get final confirmation of the. Deaths but
Speaker 2: this is always it's something we go through in this,
Speaker 2: country almost, ceremony it feels sometimes and the steps that are,
Speaker 2: taken but just will always want. Acknowledgeable these are solemn
Speaker 2: moments and times that we are executing someone and usually
Speaker 2: always the case because they killed someone. Else so this
Speaker 2: is these always difficult days and certainly for the families.
Speaker 3: By all, accounts and tonight in the execution chamber this
Speaker 3: will be a packed room because the victim in this
Speaker 3: case at the time was just twenty one years. Old
Speaker 3: her Name denise Amber. Lee she was a mom of
Speaker 3: a toddler and an, infant and her, husband almost twenty years,
Speaker 3: later has still spent almost every day of his life
Speaker 3: fighting for, change fighting for, justice and he will be
Speaker 3: in that execution chamber witnessing the death Of, king alongside
Speaker 3: her oldest, son her, mother her, father her. Sister so
Speaker 3: many members of her family all say they plan to
Speaker 3: be there.
Speaker 2: Tonight, yeah and they're all. Different sometimes some of these
Speaker 2: go so, long they've lasted so, long and it's up
Speaker 2: to forty years sometimes that most of the family members
Speaker 2: and people who are closer affiliated with the the cases
Speaker 2: are already passed. On but this is one that's Again,
Speaker 2: robe it's just so rare that we see something like.
Speaker 2: This and this is one that the year, Started it
Speaker 2: was not on the, books, right there are only so
Speaker 2: many in the country that we had executions, planned and
Speaker 2: we knew robes along the way that more death warns
Speaker 2: would be, signed and we know That desanta's down In
Speaker 2: florida is not shy about signing. Them and this is
Speaker 2: one he, SIGNED i believe In, february and it has
Speaker 2: been scheduled and here we Go florida on pace again this.
Speaker 3: Year, yes this Is DeSantis's i believe thirty second. Execution
Speaker 3: it will be the fourth For florida this. Year and
Speaker 3: it's interesting because the husband said he wanted to explain.
Speaker 3: First he, SAID i don't want to have to think
Speaker 3: about this guy. Anymore but he said when he got
Speaker 3: the word That DeSantis signed his death and gave him
Speaker 3: an execution, date to excuse me, specifically he said he
Speaker 3: was excited and he wanted to explain that word because he,
Speaker 3: said all of us are going to be there For.
Speaker 3: DENISE i don't want to be. There it's not something
Speaker 3: that you grow up THINKING i want to see an execution.
Speaker 3: Someday that's not SOMETHING i think we're all necessarily excited
Speaker 3: to be a part. Of BUT i think we're definitely
Speaker 3: excited to know That king is not going to be alive,
Speaker 3: anymore and that this is and that he's going to
Speaker 3: be off this. Earth it's a light at the end
Speaker 3: of the, tunnel and closure is not something we're ever
Speaker 3: going to, get but it makes. Sense just it's a,
Speaker 3: relief so to, speak that this man who took so
Speaker 3: much away from this family won't be on this earth.
Speaker 3: Anymore you.
Speaker 2: Know the other thing we often hear about, Families, yes
Speaker 2: having that, finality but what they've had to deal with
Speaker 2: oftentimes for ten twenty thirty forty, years, appeals core, hearings,
Speaker 2: delays parole board, hearings keeps showing up for. It it
Speaker 2: becomes a part of their entire. Life what's the latest
Speaker 2: on the. Case where do we have to show up
Speaker 2: now to try to get resolution or get what the
Speaker 2: court system says is, justice which is an. Execution, YEAH
Speaker 2: i think about that.
Speaker 3: TOO i was just actually going through all the still
Speaker 3: photos from the trial and it really brought it. Home
Speaker 3: just to see the emotion from the friends and family
Speaker 3: Of denise in the, court reacting to all the, witnesses
Speaker 3: and certainly Seeing Michael king's face there as the. Defendant
Speaker 3: it brought it. Home but imagining living through reliving this horrific,
Speaker 3: crime which we will get, into and then you finally
Speaker 3: get the guilty, verdict you finally get the sentencing where
Speaker 3: he is sentenced to be, Executed but as you point,
Speaker 3: out it's not. Over it, continues and it goes on
Speaker 3: and on and, on and if you're committed to seeing this.
Speaker 3: Through oftentimes family members do show up to every hearing
Speaker 3: they show up to every court. Hearing they show up
Speaker 3: to make sure that they see this through to the.
Speaker 2: End and the end is supposed to be. Tonight but
Speaker 2: this all started back In january of two thousand and.
Speaker 2: Eight these, two as far AS i could, understand this was.
Speaker 2: Random he drove by and saw her at her house
Speaker 2: with her kids at the. Time what was a baby?
Speaker 3: One, yes. One she had a two year Old noah
Speaker 3: and six month Old, adam and she was cutting the
Speaker 3: hair on the front porch of her two year. Old
Speaker 3: and that he was apparently driving by looking for an easy,
Speaker 3: target and he Saw denise on the porch cutting her
Speaker 3: young son's hairy.
Speaker 2: Man life is just, unfair, right this the randomness of
Speaker 2: life and crime and something like. This she was doing,
Speaker 2: nothing was nothing you could tell this woman to do
Speaker 2: any differently that wouldn't have put her in the danger
Speaker 2: just from some dude driving.
Speaker 1: By.
Speaker 3: This, yeah you're literally in a neighborhood on your own
Speaker 3: front porch with your children in the middle of the.
Speaker 3: Day they, say this was broad daylight In. Florida you
Speaker 3: would never even be on guard or think you had
Speaker 3: anything to look out. For and so he actually kidnapped
Speaker 3: her at. Gunpoint he put the kids in the house
Speaker 3: and locked the door so they were. Safe he left them,
Speaker 3: unharmed but he took her and tied her, up put
Speaker 3: her in the back of his, car and took. Off
Speaker 3: but the story gets even, like, oh it's so chilling
Speaker 3: when you see all the different times she could have been.
Speaker 3: Saved there was a point in which she even got
Speaker 3: his phone and was able to call nine one.
Speaker 2: One this was AND i don't know if they got.
Speaker 2: CLARITY i never heard that fully. Explained but, yeah she's
Speaker 2: in the, vehicle she is held, captive she is tied,
Speaker 2: up and again he did take. Her he, kidnapped took
Speaker 2: her back to another, house left her, bound and raped this.
Speaker 2: Woman this was a, severe, awful awful, crime ends up
Speaker 2: taking her somewhere shooting. Her DO i have it right
Speaker 2: in the, face, Yes, okay so this is a horrific.
Speaker 2: Crime the issue, here which has been front and center
Speaker 2: robes is the behavior or the lack of proper training
Speaker 2: of nine one one dispatchers while all this was going,
Speaker 2: on because there are at least two separate occasions. Robes while
Speaker 2: she was in the trunk of this man's held. Captive
Speaker 2: she has a cell phone trying to call nine one.
Speaker 2: One someone else here's. Her another motorists also tries to
Speaker 2: call nine one, one and for some reason authorities or
Speaker 2: law enforcement at the time couldn't piece this together and
Speaker 2: save this.
Speaker 3: One it's actually head. Scratching but there were a total
Speaker 3: of four nine one one calls over a period of
Speaker 3: a pretty short period of, time including yes From denise,
Speaker 3: herself and then nine to one one call was played
Speaker 3: in court during the trial where you have this young.
Speaker 3: Woman so apparently he goes into this house to get
Speaker 3: basically a shovel to bury, her and this is just
Speaker 3: so she has a quick moment she's tied, up she
Speaker 3: manages to get her for his, phone dials nine one
Speaker 3: one and, says, please my name Is. Denise i'm married
Speaker 3: to a beautiful husband AND i just want to see
Speaker 3: my kids. Again so she ends up having to drop the,
Speaker 3: phone leaves it connected to the nine one one operator
Speaker 3: where you can hear her, SAY i just want to
Speaker 3: see my, Family please let me. Go she's begging To Michael.
Speaker 3: King you can hear this in the nine one one,
Speaker 3: Call god help. Me and for six minutes the call
Speaker 3: goes on and the dispatcher is asking her for her,
Speaker 3: name her, location what her address. Is she obviously can't,
Speaker 3: talk and while this is going, on someone else's calling
Speaker 3: nine one. One they see her in the back of
Speaker 3: the car bank. Screaming someone else called heard her. Screaming
Speaker 3: this is just a mind boggling to know that people
Speaker 3: are giving the description of the car where it, is
Speaker 3: and somehow there was a disconnect and police who were
Speaker 3: actively searching for her weren't connected with the nine one
Speaker 3: one dispatchers who were getting these calls describing the scene
Speaker 3: about what was happening and where she.
Speaker 2: Was it's, LOOK i it's hard to. CRITICIZE i know
Speaker 2: it's complicated stuff law. Enforcement this is, complicated but broke
Speaker 2: from the from the standpoint of you've got at least
Speaker 2: a six minute. Call we've seen this scene in movies
Speaker 2: plenty of, times have we, not, ye someone calls for
Speaker 2: help and needs to try to give us say something
Speaker 2: about What the argument is that the nine to one
Speaker 2: one operator wasn't trained well enough and didn't understand well
Speaker 2: enough what that emergency situation was and to get the
Speaker 2: proper people involved and to connect. Dots you got this
Speaker 2: many nine to one one. Calls nobody has pieced. Together
Speaker 2: these have come together in pretty quick, secession and they're
Speaker 2: talking about the same thing and describing the same. Car
Speaker 2: we have an, emergency all hands on, deck there is
Speaker 2: someone in imminent danger and. Robes i'm not criticizing BECAUSE
Speaker 2: i wasn't, there but plenty of others criticized that this
Speaker 2: was not handled well and something needed to be.
Speaker 3: Done, yes there WERE i believe three different dispatchers involved
Speaker 3: from the same county taking in these phone, calls and
Speaker 3: the fact that nothing was coordinated and no usable information
Speaker 3: was related to police who were actively searching for her
Speaker 3: led to significant. Change when we come, back we will
Speaker 3: talk about What lee's family has done in her honor
Speaker 3: and how they have made life saving changes to make
Speaker 3: sure something like this never happens. Again and welcome back
Speaker 3: everyone to this episode Of amy AND. Tj there is
Speaker 3: Another florida execution happening. Tonight it is the fourth of
Speaker 3: the year For, florida the thirty second execution For Governor.
Speaker 3: DeSantis but this story was something that captivated the country
Speaker 3: nearly twenty years ago When Denise lee called nine one
Speaker 3: one for help after she had been kidnapped and, raped
Speaker 3: was bound and was fearing for her. Life she along
Speaker 3: with several other people who witnessed her in the back
Speaker 3: of this car calling nine one, one and yet police
Speaker 3: only found her body two days, later naked in a
Speaker 3: shallow gray they've fatally shot in the. Face and, so,
Speaker 3: yes her family wanted. Change they sued the. COUNTY i
Speaker 3: believe they got around one point two million. Dollars but
Speaker 3: they founded The denise Amber Lee foundation to improve nine
Speaker 3: one one training and it. Changed it changed how nine
Speaker 3: one one dispatchers are trained in the state Of. Florida
Speaker 3: it changed their mode of. Operation so trying to do
Speaker 3: their best to make sure this kind of scenario could
Speaker 3: never happen.
Speaker 2: Again, yeah and they passed legislation down there In florida
Speaker 2: specifically with her name in her, honor to make sure
Speaker 2: something like, this like you, Said, robes nine to one
Speaker 2: one operator was this was sure mistakes and things get
Speaker 2: made all the. Time this was such a glaring what
Speaker 2: the hell when the story was laid out that that
Speaker 2: was very difficult for the, family you, know to deal
Speaker 2: with knowing that there were who's to say if she
Speaker 2: could have been ultimately. Saved but, Man, robes there was a,
Speaker 2: chance there was a, chance given all that was going.
Speaker 2: On she called nine one one and begging somebody please
Speaker 2: save my, life and she. Doesn't, yeah that's.
Speaker 3: Tough yet one of the drivers who, called who was,
Speaker 3: following actually was on the phone with nine one one
Speaker 3: for nine. Minutes you start thinking about this and it's
Speaker 3: hard to imagine how this. Happened BUT i thought it
Speaker 3: was really chilling what her husband. Said he, said nine
Speaker 3: one one dispatchers are the first. Link if they don't,
Speaker 3: work nothing else. Does if you think about, that we
Speaker 3: all know if we were in some scary emergency. SITUATION
Speaker 3: i always, think you know, what as long AS i
Speaker 3: have my, PHONE i can call nine one. One that
Speaker 3: is your connection to, Safety that is your connection to,
Speaker 3: help that is your connection to staying. Alive and if
Speaker 3: that doesn't, Work he's, right nothing else.
Speaker 2: Does we've seen a lot and we do watch a
Speaker 2: lot of, cases crime stories covered a lot of, them
Speaker 2: and nine one one calls come into play and quite
Speaker 2: frankly and quite often really impressed by one how cool they,
Speaker 2: are how professional they are in the midst of. Chaos
Speaker 2: and we were just doing this yesterday with The Corey richands.
Speaker 2: Trial they were playing a nine to one one call
Speaker 2: that person was working so hard to save a man's
Speaker 2: life by trying to get someone to help, him which
Speaker 2: the wife ultimately. Didn't but still it makes me think
Speaker 2: of it because we were just having this conversation about how
Speaker 2: excellent nine when one operators are sometimes.
Speaker 3: Oh my, god they are calm when everyone else is,
Speaker 3: panicking and, like they save lives every single. Day this
Speaker 3: is just an example of when things went wrong and
Speaker 3: one of the changes that was. Made nine one one
Speaker 3: operators now must have more than two hundred hours of,
Speaker 3: training and so they increased the training hours they increased
Speaker 3: just their ability to react and to know how to
Speaker 3: HANDLE i cannot imagine that job where little you have
Speaker 3: to distinguish between print calling what's a real, emergency what's?
Speaker 3: Not making those decisions in real time or seconds. Matter
Speaker 3: that is a tough job THAT i cannot imagine the
Speaker 3: stress level waking up and going to bed each day
Speaker 3: and night knowing that lives hang in the balance based
Speaker 3: on your.
Speaker 2: REACTION i give them credit because the other part they
Speaker 2: have to do sometimes. Rope they have to be kind
Speaker 2: and caring but. Firm, right somebody's, Crying BUT i need
Speaker 2: you to do this. THING i know you're upset and
Speaker 2: they have a. Balance it sounds like they are well
Speaker 2: trained and a lot of the ONES i, hear BUT
Speaker 2: i guess they don't get enough credit sometimes. Road but
Speaker 2: this is a point to. Make, yeah nine one one
Speaker 2: operators needs some, love because from WHAT i have heard and,
Speaker 2: experience they do pretty damn good.
Speaker 3: Job, yes, absolutely Thank, God Thank god for the nine
Speaker 3: one one operators out. There but we will certainly be
Speaker 3: watching what happens this. Evening. Again king's execution is scheduled
Speaker 3: for six pm this. Evening he will die by lethal.
Speaker 3: Injection right, now we've been keeping this, count but two
Speaker 3: hundred and forty nine inmates currently on death row in
Speaker 3: the state Of, florida and there are already two more
Speaker 3: executions on the books in the state Of florida in
Speaker 3: the coming. Weeks James Aaron duckett is scheduled to die
Speaker 3: On march thirty, first And Chadwick Scott willisey is scheduled
Speaker 3: to die On april twenty, First so that puts the
Speaker 3: number at six right now For. Florida but you can
Speaker 3: be Sure Ron DeSantis is looking ahead Beyond, april and
Speaker 3: we will of course keep you updated on all of.
Speaker 3: This We thank you as always for listening to us every.
Speaker 3: One I'm Amy roebock ALONGSIDE. Tj. Holmes we'll talk to you.
Speaker 2: Soon