Angel Nieves Diaz was a Puerto Rican inmate convicted of the December 1979 capital murder of a manager during an armed robbery execution sweep at a velvet-themed lounge in Miami, Florida. Diaz evaded capture for years, building an extensive tracking record of violent institutional escape attempts across multiple territories.

Diaz spent over two decades on death row at Florida State Prison, maintaining a posture of total innocence and legal defiance. His execution sequence was finalized for December 13, 2006, generating a log that completely disrupted modern regional execution protocols.

Diaz declined to utilize his final meal privilege, refusing to request any special items. Adhering to state rules, prison staff prepared the standard institutional menu tray assigned to the general population that day:

Diaz actively refused to touch or consume any component of the baseline tray delivered to his cell, choosing to go into the execution chamber on a completely empty stomach as a final symbolic silent protest against the state’s legal authority.

The subsequent lethal injection execution sequence turned into an unprecedented disaster. The execution team improperly placed the intravenous lines, puncturing Diaz’s veins and injecting the chemical agents directly into soft tissue rather than his bloodstream. The execution took an agonizing 34 minutes and required a second full dose of lethal drugs.

The severe procedural failure led Florida’s governor to immediately suspend all executions in the state, forcing a total overhaul of modern lethal injection tracking mandates across the United States.