Tanzi experienced severe childhood abuse and trauma, including sexual abuse.
TALLAHASSEE, FL – On Tuesday evening, the State of Florida carried out the execution of Michael Tanzi, a man whose life was marked by severe childhood abuse, trauma, and mental illness. The execution has drawn sharp criticism from anti-death penalty advocates, who argue that Tanzi’s death represents a failure of the justice system to protect vulnerable individuals and prevent future violence.
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) released a statement following the execution, condemning it as a “premeditated murder” carried out in the name of justice but rooted in vengeance.
“To anyone who is paying attention, the death penalty is not justice,” the statement reads. “It is not justice to take a physically and mentally broken man, strap him to a gurney, and commit premeditated murder. This is revenge, plain and simple.”
Michael Tanzi was executed for the 2000 murder of Janet Acosta, a crime he admitted to and expressed deep remorse over. “When I look back on my life, my regrets are endless,” he once wrote. “I’ve taken full responsibility for my actions… prison saved my life.”
“Failing to protect abused children and failing to answer a suicidal cry for help is not justice. A sledgehammer to the chest is not justice.” – Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
FADP and others point to the extensive trauma and abuse Tanzi endured beginning in early childhood—trauma the jury never fully heard during his sentencing.
According to advocates and court records, Tanzi experienced severe abuse at the hands of both his parents. By the age of two, he had been hospitalized with injuries inflicted by his father. At six, he was sexually abused for the first time—an ordeal that continued for five more years. His mother, unequipped to cope, turned him in to the police instead of seeking help and forced him to place his hands on a hot stove. His father, diagnosed with terminal cancer when Tanzi was eight, inflicted even greater violence during his final months, reportedly telling Michael, “You’re the one who is killing me.”
At age 20, Tanzi attempted suicide and was hospitalized, only to be discharged without any follow-up care. Three years later, he committed the crime for which he would eventually be sentenced to death.
As indicated above, Michael Tanzi has stated: “When I look back on my life, my regrets are endless. I’ve taken full responsibility for my actions… prison saved my life.”
Despite the brutality of the crime, not all members of the victim’s family supported the execution. Janet Acosta’s longtime partner, John Mulcahy, opposed the death penalty and was quoted during sentencing as saying, “I don’t want to see the guy die. Both of us didn’t think it did any good killing people off.”
Janet’s sister, Julie Andrew, expressed a similar view: “Our whole reason for being here wasn’t for revenge… We wanted to see justice done for my sister.” In 2007, she described the execution process as a source of continued trauma: “Your life kind of goes on and you put it in the back of your mind, but then you get the call from the State Attorney’s Office, and it’s like a sledgehammer hits your chest.”
FADP argues that the death penalty prolongs suffering for survivors, rather than delivering closure or healing. “Failing to protect abused children and failing to answer a suicidal cry for help is not justice,” the group’s statement concludes. “A sledgehammer to the chest is not justice.”
