A Lie with a Pulse

Florida is about to kill a man , not because he’s guilty beyond doubt, not because the system worked as it should, not because the courts carefully weighed the facts , but because the State of Florida is more interested in preserving its illusion of justice than in delivering actual justice.

Anthony Wainwright is scheduled to be executed on June 10. And he is not dying because his legal claims were reviewed and denied. He is dying because his lawyer refused to file a response, and the court let him.

This is not incompetence. This is complicity. This is how a state disposes of human beings quietly, methodically, without even the pretense of a fight.

But Florida needs Anthony dead for one reason: Because his death protects the lie.

Because behind the headlines, behind the “record, low crime” soundbites of Governor Ron DeSantis, behind the death warrants signed with smug precision, there’s a rotting core of statistical manipulation, suppression of truth, and state,orchestrated fraud.

Let’s make this painfully clear.

In 2021, Florida adopted the FBI’s new crime reporting system , NIBRS. It was supposed to make data more detailed and transparent. Instead, it collapsed the entire system.

That year, only 44% of Florida’s law enforcement agencies submitted any crime data to the FBI. That means more than half of the state simply went dark. No numbers. No tracking. No accountability.

Entire major cities like Miami, Jacksonville, and Orlando didn’t report a single crime to the federal database. Not one. They vanished. And yet , that same year , DeSantis went on television and declared:

“Crime in Florida is at a 50-year low.”

He said that knowing the data was incomplete. He said that after gutting the numbers. He said that to sell the public a lie.

That’s not miscommunication. That’s deliberate, calculated deceit. That’s government,led fraud.

Let me put it like this: if a pharmaceutical company wiped half of its test results to claim a drug was “safe,” it would be shut down and sued. If a car manufacturer erased half its crash tests and claimed “record,low fatalities,” people would go to prison. But when the State of Florida erases more than half its crime reports, it gets a pat on the back and another term in office.

Meanwhile, people like Anthony Wainwright are murdered to keep the lie from unraveling.

Because if Anthony were allowed a real appeal , a real lawyer , a real hearing , people might start asking questions. About why his lawyer , Baya Harrison, a man with a history of delayed filings and public support for the death penalty , was allowed to simply refuse to file a habeas response, killing the case by omission. About why no replacement was appointed. About why the court shrugged and looked the other way, knowing full well what was at stake.

Let me say it again: no one evaluated the merits of Anthony Wainwright’s claim. No one held a hearing. No one weighed evidence. No one acted. And now, the State is going to strap him to a gurney and inject him with poison , for the crime of having a silent lawyer.

What the hell do you call that?

Because it’s not due process. It’s not justice. It’s execution by administrative neglect.

Florida kills people to protect its reputation. It kills people to distract from its lies. It kills people so it doesn’t have to fix the mess it made.

Let’s talk numbers.

Since 1976, Florida has executed 105 people.

It has exonerated 30 from death row. That’s one exoneration for every 3.4 executions.

70% of executions have involved white victims, in a state where the majority of murder victims are Black or Hispanic.

Death sentences come overwhelmingly from just six counties, while 50 others don’t use it.

So who gets executed in Florida?

Not the worst. Just the most vulnerable. The poorest. The Blackest. The most poorly defended. The people least likely to fight back.

And this is what Florida calls justice?

This isn’t a justice system. It’s a public relations engine that runs on blood.

They tell you it’s about protecting the people. But Florida’s murder rate is higher than 20 states that don’t use the death penalty. They tell you it brings closure. But how does silence and sabotage bring peace to anyone? They tell you it deters crime. But if that were true, Florida , with more executions than almost any other state , would be the safest in the country.

It’s not even close.

What Florida has proven , again and again , is that it doesn’t need facts. It doesn’t need accuracy. It just needs compliance.

It needs the public to believe what it says. It needs Anthony to die , not because he’s dangerous, but because he’s inconvenient. Because if we look too closely, we might see the truth:

That Florida isn’t executing criminals. It’s executing the evidence of its own corruption.

And if we let it happen , if we stay quiet while this machine continues , then we’re not just bystanders.

We’re collaborators.