Inside the Witness Room: A Reporter's Account of Bobby Joe Long's Execution, WTSP 10News, 2019

Name: Inside the Witness Room: A Reporter's Account of Bobby Joe Long's Execution, WTSP 10News, 2019
Uploaded: 2019-05-24T00:00:00Z
Duration: 1 min 39 s
Description: Hours after Bobby Joe Long was put to death at Florida State Prison, WTSP reporter Jennifer Titus, one of the witnesses, described the room, his last minutes and the victims' families' reaction.

Hours after Bobby Joe Long was put to death at Florida State Prison, WTSP reporter Jennifer Titus, one of the witnesses, described the room, his last minutes and the victims' families' reaction.

Subject: Bobbie Joe Long
Recorded: May 23, 2019
Runtime: 1:39

Content warning: An eyewitness account of an execution by lethal injection; refers to the murders of ten women. No graphic detail.

The Report

This is a 1-minute-39-second WTSP 10News (Tampa Bay) report from the late newscast on the night of May 23, 2019, posted by the station on its own channel. Two anchors introduce the station's coverage from Florida State Prison; then reporter Jennifer Titus, who was one of the witnesses, describes what she saw in the witness room as Bobby Joe Long was executed. Long himself is not heard; Titus reports that he declined to make a last statement.

Historical Context

In 1984 Bobby Joe Long killed at least ten women in the Tampa Bay area. He was arrested on November 16, 1984, after Lisa McVey, a 17-year-old he had abducted and released, helped investigators identify him. In 1985 he pleaded guilty to eight murders and to her abduction and rape, and he was sentenced to death for the murder of Michelle Denise Simms. On April 23, 2019, Governor Ron DeSantis signed his death warrant, the first of his term.

Circumstances

The execution was scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 23, 2019, at Florida State Prison. Titus was among the witnesses seated facing the execution chamber through a glass window. By her count there were 26 people in the room: an attorney, a spiritual adviser and, for the rest, relatives of Long's victims.

What the Report Covers

The anchors note that the execution was "34 years in the making" and "all over in just 12 minutes." Titus describes the families' emotions as they waited, the curtain rising for the first time many of them had seen Long in 34 years, and Long saying "no" when asked whether he wished to make a statement. She reports that the procedure began at about 6:43 p.m., that his eyes stayed closed, that about a minute in he opened his mouth and turned his head, and that his breathing grew heavy and then stopped. He was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. When the curtain came down, she says, the room fell silent, and the families showed emotion for the first time, with "smiles and hugs," saying they finally had justice and closure.

What Makes the Recording Significant

The report is a first-hand account recorded within hours of the execution by a journalist who was in the witness room, and it records how the victims' families received the end of a case that had lasted 34 years.

Important Caveats

Long is not heard in this video; his refusal to make a statement is reported by Titus. The description of the execution is Titus's account. The count of 26 people in the room is hers; FOX 13 reported its own reporter and 25 other observers, plus Department of Corrections staff, and the two counts may be framed differently. The YouTube title's "execution chamber" is loose: the witnesses sat in a room facing the chamber through glass. The anchors' names are not verified and should not be used on the page.

Anchor 1: Welcome to Nightside. I'm [unclear: "Carolina Lee" / "Carolina Lied"].

Anchor 2: And I'm Katie McCall. These are the 10 women that Long killed across Hillsborough and Pasco counties in the '80s. Long's execution was 34 years in the making, and it was all over in just 12 minutes. We've got 10News team coverage from the Florida State Prison. First, Jennifer Titus was inside the room during the execution. She shares what happened, minute by minute.

Jennifer Titus: Inside the execution room, there were 26 people. One was an attorney, the other was a spiritual adviser, the rest were family members of the victims of Bobby Joe Long. You could see they, some of them had very strong emotions, some of them in tears, passing back and forth tissues from one to the other. When the curtain was finally raised, they were all sitting in front of a glass window. When that curtain was raised, that was the first time many of them were seeing Bobby Joe Long in 34 years. Bobby Joe Long was asked if he wanted to make a statement; he said no.

Jennifer Titus: His eyes were closed the entire time, and the execution process began. It began about 6:43 p.m. About a minute into it, he opened his mouth, he turned his head, and that was about it. We noticed that he was breathing normally. It did get heavy at a point, and then it just stopped about five minutes later. He was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. That curtain then dropped once again, and for the first time during the whole entire execution process, it was so silent you could hear a pin drop.

Jennifer Titus: When that curtain went down, that was really the first time I saw any of the family members show any emotion, and that emotion was smiles and hugs. They said, "Finally, this is the justice we have been waiting for. Finally, we have closure." [01:39: clip ends.] ---