Tampa serial killer will make final appeal for stay of execution

TAMPA, Fla. (FOX 13) - After careful counseling from his attorney, convicted serial killer Bobby Joe Long will appear in person inside a Tampa courtroom on Friday. Long is scheduled to be put to death in 20 days and is now attempting to buy himself more time. 

Long will make his case to a judge that the lethal injection he’s scheduled to receive would cause him unnecessary pain. At a hearing Wednesday, Long’s attorney claimed he’s likely to have an adverse reaction to the drugs the state plans to use to carry out his lethal injection. 

The appearance though was nearly derailed by Long himself. During a Wednesday hearing, Long told a judge that he did not wish to attend his scheduled hearing on Friday because he claimed it would be “torture” for him to have to be transported from his jail cell to a Tampa courthouse in order to appeal for a stay of execution. After private talks with his attorney, however, Long agreed to show up. 

It was a choice word from a man who’s convicted of kidnapping, raping, torturing and then brutally murdering eight women in the 1980s. For those crimes, Long was sent to Florida’s death row in 1986. 

Now, more than three decades later, his death sentence is finally slated to be carried out. Long’s execution is scheduled for May 23rd. Lisa McVey, a survivor who escaped Long's clutches and because a Hillsborough County deputy, said she plans to attend the execution. Governor Ron DeSantis has already signed off on his death warrant. 

Friday's hearing will be held at 9:30 a.m.