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Article: The Case Of the Hypnotized Witness
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- August 5, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Since 1978, 34 men convicted of homicide have been killed in
Florida's electric chair, a.k.a. "Old Sparky." The 35th was to have
been Joseph Spaziano, on death row for 19 years for the 1973 murder
of Laura Harbets, a young hospital worker whose body was found in a
Seminole County dump.
In the 1975 trial, the jury, which was twice deadlocked but
ordered to push on, recommended a life sentence for the former
president of the Orlando Outlaws Motorcycle Brotherhood. Florida is
among the states allowing judges, in their robed wisdom and knowing
they must run for reelection, to override sentencing juries. This one
ordered death.
In late May, Gov. Lawton Chiles issued a death warrant for
Spaziano's ...