A former Florida police officer is slated to be executed on Tuesday night. The Associated Press reported that Manuel Pardo,56, was fired from police duty for lying and then he turned to a life of crime and killed nine people in a three month period, nearly 27 years ago.
He is now scheduled to be executed. Pardo said during his 1988 trial according to the AP. "I am a soldier, I accomplished my mission and I humbly ask you to give me the glory of ending my life and not send me to spend the rest of my days in state prison."
Pardo started his career in the 1970s as a Florida Highway Patroller. He was fired in 1979 after he falsified traffic tickets, reports the AP but then he was hired by the police department in Sweetwater, which is a city in the Miami-Dade County.
He was fired after lying in a court trial where his colleague was asccused of drug smuggling. The AP reported that he lied and said they were international undercover agents. After that he commited a number of robberies in 1986 and killed six men and three women. He took photos of his victims and wrote about dthe details of it in his diary.
His attorneys had unsucessfully tried to stop his execution on grounds of being mentally ill. His lawyer, Ronald Guralnick said to the AP, "I think that anyone who would get up and ask a jury sentence him to death is insane."
Retired prosecutor David Waksman said to the Herald, "He was doing robberies and went home and slept like a baby. He was proud of what he did."
Retired Detective John Allickson who was part of the team that investigated Pardo said to the Miami Herald, "I don't know if it's because he was in law enforcement that made it such a nasty, chilling case, but I spent over 19 years in homicide and this one always sticks out," said. "In sitting there, talking to him, he was Ted Bundy-esque."
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