Daryl Linnie Mack (August 28, 1958 – April 26, 2006) was an American man who was executed in

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

for murder. Mack was sentenced to death for the October 1988 rape and murder of Betty Jane May in

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...

. The murder went unsolved for twelve years until DNA evidence linked him to the crime. He was already in jail at the time, having been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the April 1994 murder of Kim Parks. He was sentenced to death, waived his appeals and asked to be put to death. Mack was executed via

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...

Nevada State Prison Nevada State Prison (NSP) was a penitentiary located in Carson City. The prison was in continuous operation since its establishment in 1862 and was managed by the Nevada Department of Corrections. It was one of the oldest prisons still operatin ...

on April 26, 2006. He remains the last person executed in Nevada.

Murders

On October 28, 1988, the body of 55-year-old Betty Jane May was found in her basement room at a boarding house in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

. Her neighbor, Steven Floyd, found the body. An autopsy was carried out the next morning. Medical experts concluded that she had been raped and then strangled to death. The murder would go unsolved for twelve years. On April 8, 1994, the body of 35-year-old Kim Parks was found in a motel room in Reno by a maid. She had been strangled to death with her own bra. According to police, Parks worked as a prostitute and was a regular guest at the motel. She had registered into the motel late at night on April 6. The autopsy determined she had been killed on April 7. Blood discovered on a bedsheet in the room was not hers. An employee of the motel reported to police that they had seen Parks with Mack at the motel. Through a seizure order, police took a sample of Mack's blood, which matched the blood from the crime scene. Mack was arrested and charged with murder.

Trial and revelation

Mack denied killing Parks. He claimed he had fought with her over money she had supposedly stolen from him. He originally denied ever being at the motel, but the DNA evidence obtained from the bed sheet matched his. In October 1994, he was found guilty of the murder of Parks and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. While Mack was in prison, the unsolved homicide of Betty Jane May was reexamined by another detective who requested DNA testing of some of the evidence. Semen that had been taken from May's body as well as blood stains found on her blouse matched the DNA profile of Mack. In 2000, Mack was officially charged with first-degree murder. This time the state of Nevada sought the death penalty. Before his trial began, Mack requested to waive a jury trial and have a judge trial instead. Mack was tried by a

three-judge panel A judicial panel is a set of judges who sit together to hear a cause of action, most frequently an appeal from a ruling of a trial court judge. Panels are used in contrast to single-judge appeals, and hearings, which involves all of the judges of ...

and was sentenced to death on May 15, 2002. He continued to deny murdering May.

Execution

Not long after his death sentence, Mack voluntarily gave up all his appeals. He refused to give any interviews to the media while awaiting execution and had said in court statements that he would rather be executed than spend the rest of his life in prison. His execution was originally scheduled to be carried out on March 5, 2004, but it was put on hold until the court resolved his legal appeals. It was then scheduled to be carried out on December 1, 2005, but was stayed by the

Supreme Court of Nevada The Supreme Court of Nevada is the highest state court of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the head of the Nevada Judiciary. The main constitutional function of the Supreme Court is to review appeals made directly from the decisions of the district ...

. The stay was lifted in February 2006, and Mack was rescheduled for execution on April 26, 2006. On April 26, 2006, Mack was executed via

. While in prison he converted to Islam and spent his final hours reading the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

. His

last meal A condemned prisoner's last meal is a customary ritual preceding execution. In many countries, the prisoner may, within reason, select what the last meal will be. Contemporary restrictions in the United States In the United States, most states gi ...

was a fish fillet sandwich, french fries and a soft drink. He was pronounced dead at 9:06 p.m. and his final words were "Allah is great, Allah is great."

Aftermath

Mack is the first and only African-American man to be executed by the state of Nevada since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. He is also the first and only inmate to be executed in Nevada based solely on DNA evidence. Due to budgetary reasons, Nevada State Prison closed in 2012, officially making Mack the last person to be executed at Nevada State Prison. As of 2023, Mack remains the last person to be executed by the state of Nevada, which has gone over fifteen years without an execution. Convicted murderer

Scott Dozier Scott Raymond Dozier (; November 20, 1970 – January 5, 2019) was an American murderer on death row in Nevada for the 2002 murder of 22-year-old Jeremiah Miller, who was one of Dozier's drug associates. He would have been the first inmate execu ...

was nearly executed by Nevada in 2018, but his execution was halted. Dozier later committed

suicide by hanging Suicide by hanging is the intentional killing of oneself (suicide) via suspension from an anchor-point such as an overhead beam or hook, by a rope or cord or by jumping from a height with a noose around the neck. Hanging is often considered t ...

in January 2019. In 2021, convicted mass murderer

Zane Floyd Zane Michael Floyd (born September 20, 1975) is an American convicted mass murderer who at the age of 23 killed four people and injured another in a supermarket in Las Vegas, Nevada, on June 3, 1999. After being convicted of the murders, Floyd wa ...

was scheduled for execution in Nevada on July 26, 2021. However, a federal judge stayed the execution. If executed, Floyd would have been the first person executed in Nevada in over fifteen years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mack, Daryl 1958 births 2006 deaths 20th-century African-American people 20th-century American criminals 21st-century executions by Nevada 21st-century executions of American people American male criminals American people convicted of assault American people executed for murder Crimes against sex workers in the United States Criminals from Nevada Executed African-American people People convicted of murder by Nevada People executed by Nevada by lethal injection People executed for murder People from Reno, Nevada 21st-century African-American people

Murders

Trial and revelation

Execution

Aftermath

See also

References