Florida man convicted of two murders to be put to death

Death row inmate Michael Zack, 54, in an undated photo obtained from the Florida Department of Corrections

Miami (AFP) - A Florida man convicted of murdering two women in 1996 is to be executed by lethal injection on Tuesday.

Michael Zack, 54, is to be put to death at 6:00 pm (2200 GMT) at the Florida State Prison in the town of Raiford.

Zack was sentenced to death in 1997 for the June 1996 sexual assault, robbery and murder of Ravonne Smith, a woman he met at a bar.

He was also convicted of the murder of another woman, Laura Rosillo, who had befriended him at another bar.

Zack's defense attorneys had sought to block his execution on the grounds that he suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome and is intellectually disabled.

His appeals were denied by lower courts and eventually the Supreme Court.

There have been five executions in Florida this year and 18 in the United States.

© Agence France-Presse