[TAMPABAY] Patrick Charles Hannon helped execute two Tampa men 26 years ago. He slashed one man’s throat and shot another man six times in the chest in 1991.The state of Florida executed him for those crimes on Wednesday night.
Hannon was pronounced dead at 8:50 p.m. He was 53.
He is the only one of three men who took part in the Jan. 10, 1991 murders of Brandon Snider, 27, and Robert Carter, 28, to receive the death penalty.
James Acker, also now 53, is serving a life sentence plus 22 years at Cross City Correctional Institution in Dixie County. Ronald Richardson testified against the other two in exchange for a five-year sentence.
When the curtain rose on the glass window separating the witness gallery from the execution chamber, Hannon was strapped in a gurney, covered by a white sheet.
Before executioners injected the cocktail of drugs that would render him unconscious, paralyzed and then dead, Hannon spoke.
He proclaimed his innocence and apologized ‐ to the family of just one of the men he killed.
"I hope this execution gives the Carter family some peace," he said. "I wish I could have done more to save Robert."
In the gallery, a woman from Snider’s family whispered: "Bulls----."
"I didn’t kill anybody but I was there when Ron Richardson and James Acker did," Hannon said.
"Robbie was a good man and a good friend, and I let him down when he needed me most. As far as Brandon Snider, I think that everybody knows what he did to get this ball rolling.
"I’m sorry this worked out like this, the way it did."
The woman whispered one final vulgarity at Hannon, then waved goodbye as he was put to death.