Thomas Overton is still at least 5-7 years away from the lethal injection he's scheduled to receive after murdering a pregnant Tavernier school teacher and her husband in 1991.
The death sentence of the hulking, squinty-eyed small-time burglar was the first high-profile DNA case in Monroe County and one of the most widely reported murder cases in Keys' history.
Last year, State Attorney Mark E. Kohl went back to court to successfully get a life sentence for burglary against the already-convicted murderer.
Because of interference with jurors by a member of the press, the burglary trial had to be moved from Key West to Vero Beach. And the newly-elected state attorney did what he said his predecessor seldom did, he traveled to the small coastal resort town and personally prosecuted the case.
For his efforts, he received some criticism at the time about excessive prosecution; ironically, an issue he raised frequently in his successful upset election victory over 20-year incumbent, Kirk Zuelch.
Kohl revisited the issue this week after it was raised during an interview which appeared in the Feb. 22 issue of KWTN.
As he reflected back on some of the more memorable decisions he made during that time, he said the Overton decision was one of the easy ones. He wanted some insurance that Overton would stay put.
"In making my decision to proceed on the burglary trial, I made the judgment call that Mr. Overton should never be free again to harass our society," he said. Seventeen years earlier, Overton had been able to get a lengthy prison sentence in an earlier burglary case thrown out.
Kohl cited Overton's appellate decision on the 1983 armed robbery conviction, in which he was sentenced to 99 years in prison, and which was upheld by the First District Court of Appeals.
Because of an infrequently used statute, Kohl said Overton was slated to serve at least 33 years of that sentence before being eligible for parole.
But Overton pulled a fast one. He was able to convince his former girlfriend to admit that she lied on the stand at the request of the prosecutor. "Based upon the testimony of this witness 10 years after the conviction, the judge granted a new trial," Kohl said.
"Unfortunately, the clerk had destroyed the evidence after the case had been upheld on appeal and there appeared no need to retain the evidence," he said. Without any physical evidence, Overton walked away a free man.
Kohl said nobody could have foreseen the ex-girlfriend claiming she had been coerced into committing perjury by the prosecutor 10 years after the conviction. Kohl said he didn't want to see a repeat in the Tavernier murder case.
"Whatever the cost to the taxpayers (of the burglary trial in Vero Beach), it pales in comparison to the cost of proceeding with the death penalty," he said. "It also pales in comparison to the cost to society should some court somewhere find fault with Overton's homicide conviction and release him."
Kohl has no apologies for his fierce determination in piling additional sentences on Overton. "Had Overton only served the 33 years that the judge could have guaranteed, he would have remained in prison until sometime around 2015. Michael and Missy McIvor would still be alive and their unborn son would be 11 years old," said Kohl.