Inside the Death Chamber - C1

It’s chilly and silent inside a witness room adjacent to the execution chamber at Florida State Prison in Raiford. I’m about to witness Michael Anthony Tanzi exhale for the final time as the government’s retribution for kidnapping and killing 49-year-old Janet Acosta during a harrowing four-hour nightmare on April 25, 2000.

Moments earlier—on April 8, 2025, almost 25 years to the day that the crime was committed—I was ushered into the small, unadorned viewing room by Florida Department of Corrections staff, who instructed me to remain silent throughout the entire procedure. Welcome to Death Row.