Witness to an Execution

DEVIANT

Cold Open Media

True Crime

4.8 • 610 Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Former journalist Michael Mayo recounts his experience covering the executions of two serial killers for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Mayo details the emotional journey of interviewing victims' families, and witnessing the executions of Danny Rolling and Aileen Wuornos. He shares his perspective on the death penalty, describing the sterile and surreal atmosphere of the death chamber and reflects on the complex moral and ethical considerations surrounding capital punishment. JOIN OUR PATREON: http://www.deviantpodcast.com Visit DEVIANT's socials: http://www.instagram.com/deviant.podcast http://www.tiktok.com/@deviant.podcast Copyright 2025 Cold Open Media LLC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to Deviant.
0:09.7	I'm Dan Sematovic along with Andrew Aiden.
0:13.4	And I'm sort of ambush interviewing Andrew here because I just did an interview, a quick
0:19.6	backstory.
0:20.6	So we're working on a new series about serial killer Danny Rowling.
0:23.7	It's in the works.
0:24.8	We'll hope to have that to you in a few weeks.
0:27.3	But I just had an interview with a man who was actually witness to Danny Rawling's execution,
0:33.7	as well as other executions in the state of Florida.
0:36.3	And I was going to use this for the Danny Rawling piece that we're doing.
0:41.5	But I was thinking, Andrew, I've worked with you a long time.
0:44.8	And one thing I know about you is you love stories about prison.
0:47.9	You love jails.
0:49.0	And I just wanted to tell you about this and share it with you.
0:52.9	This is a little bit of an ambush, but that's okay. Let's be real here. I don't love prisons. I think you do. No, no, I'm not a fan. No, it's just interesting. So let me get this straight. You talk to a guy who witnessed an execution. Yes, the execution of Danny Rowling in 2006.
1:12.6	His name is Michael Mayo.
1:13.8	Hi, my name is Michael Mayo.
1:15.6	I'm a former journalist that used to work for the South Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper for 31 years,
1:21.4	and I spent 14 of them as their Metro News columnists from 2002 to 2016.
1:29.1	During that time, I witnessed two executions in the state of Florida.
1:33.7	One of them was Danny Rowling.
1:36.4	I remember us talking not too long ago about your early career in journalism.
	...

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