Michael Passaro
Michael Passaro, 40, was executed by lethal injection on September 13, 2002, at Broad River Correctional Center in Columbia, South Carolina. His attorney said he had struggled with depression for years after his first wife died about ten years earlier, and that he hoped to be reunited with her. Passaro repeatedly declined his attorney's help in filing appeals that could have halted the execution, and the attorney said he saw the execution as an escape. Death-penalty opponents called it a state-assisted suicide.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state. Death-penalty opponents called the execution a state-assisted suicide, and his attorney said he declined help filing appeals that could have halted it.
Reported by: his attorney; death-penalty opponents (advocates).