Michael King is scheduled to be executed on March 17, 2026, for the 2008 murder of Denise Amber Lee.
Denise Amber Lee’s murder was a devastating and irreversible loss. Nothing in this narrative diminishes the suffering of her family or the horror of that day. Her life continues to be honored through reform that has strengthened emergency response systems across Florida and beyond. But the law requires that punishment be imposed reliably and proportionately.
Michael King was a neurologically injured child long before he was a defendant. The full extent of that injury was never adequately presented to his sentencing jury. Serious constitutional questions remain about how Florida administers its ultimate punishment.
Execution is irreversible. It does not restore Denise. It does not erase systemic failures. It would instead create additional grief — for an aging mother, for a family that has already endured decades of loss, and for those who know the man Michael has become.
Looking at his life as a whole, this case is neither the most aggravated nor the least mitigated. Michael King is more than the worst act of his life. The question before the State is not whether the crime was horrific — it was. The question is whether death is the only proportionate response.
Before the Crime, There Was a Child
Michael Lee King was born with double pneumonia. From the very beginning, he was very fragile and sick. He entered the world already struggling to breathe. He grew up in a working-class family that prized effort and discipline but had little understanding of neurological injury or cognitive impairment.
At six years old, Michael was riding a blue plastic sled with two cut-out handles. His older brother, age 11 at the time, was pulling him downhill with a snowmobile. Long baling twine tied the sled to the back of the machine. The sled picked up speed and headed straight between the family’s equipment shed, barn, and barbed wire. Michael’s sled slid straight into the 6×6 wooden pole of the open equipment shed. His frontal lobe and his face struck the pole directly. It stopped him instantly and he was knocked unconscious. His brother carried Michael, who was bleeding from his head, nose andmouth, to the farmhouse. The ER said there was nothing they could do — his teeth were broken, loose, mangled. The doctor told the family to keep ice on his face and temple to keep him awake so he would not slip into a coma.
He was six years old.
After Michael’s accident, he suffered chronic nosebleeds, heard buzzing sounds in his brain, fell behind in school, repeated grades, and hallucinated — seeing things that weren’t there. He believed people were out to get him and developed severe phobias.
Neuropsychological testing and brain imaging have revealed structural abnormalities in Michael’s frontal lobe. Experts testified that his executive functioning was impaired at the time of the crime. The frontal lobe is responsible for planning, reasoning, inhibition, and the ability to weigh consequence. Damage to the frontal lobe at age six is critical to development. This was inadequately investigated and presented to Michael’s sentencing jury.
On direct appeal, the Florida Supreme Court described some of the mitigation presented on Michael’s behalf at trial, noting that family members reported a drastic change in Michael’s behavior after the sledding accident. He was a sick child who never received the help he deserved.
Denise Amber Lee’s Legacy
On the day Denise Amber Lee was abducted, she was able to place multiple 911 calls from inside the vehicle while she was being driven away. During those calls, she provided critical identifying information, described Michael and the vehicle, and made clear that she was alive and actively seeking help. Those calls were routed to different emergency communications centers across jurisdictions. As a result, information was not consolidated in real time. The response became fragmented rather than unified, and critical details were not efficiently shared among agencies during a narrow, urgent window of opportunity.
As counsel for Michael notes, this crime was an unspeakable tragedy. Mrs. Lee’s surviving husband transformed his grief into sustained public safety advocacy. In the wake of Denise’s murder, Nathan Lee founded the Denise Amber Lee Foundation with the explicit mission of improving emergency communications so that no other family suffers a similar loss. He has traveled across the country leading training workshops for emergency telecommunicators, using the chronology of that day to teach about interagency coordination, decision-making under pressure, and quality assurance practices that can save lives.
In direct response to Denise’s murder, Florida enacted the Denise Amber Lee Act in 2008. The law amended the state’semergency communications statutes to require standardized training and certification for 911 telecommunicators, continuing education requirements, formal quality assurance programs, and stronger operational oversight. The reforms were designed to address the fragmentation revealed in Denise’s case and to improve accountability and coordination across dispatch centers statewide.
Denise’s loss prompted lasting reform. Her husband’s work continues to honor her life through systemic change aimed at protecting others.
The Legal Questions That Remain
Michael King’s trial counsel failed to adequately investigate and present the full scope of neuropsychological evidence concerning his childhood brain injury and resulting frontal lobe damage. Although some mitigation was introduced at trial, the jury did not hear a comprehensive explanation of how that injury affected his executive functioning, impulse control, and judgment. As a result, the weighing of aggravation and mitigation occurred without a complete understanding of the neurological impairment that shaped Michael’s development and behavior.
In addition, Michael’s attorneys have challenged the Florida Department of Corrections’ administration of its lethal injection protocol, arguing that it has been applied in an arbitrary and inconsistent manner in violation of his constitutional rights. FDOC records produced in prior litigation — beginning with filings in Frank Walls’ case — indicate that during the execution of Thomas Gudinas, the State prepared only approximately 50% of the required dose of rocuronium bromide, the paralytic agent in Florida’s three-drug protocol. During the execution of Anthony Wainwright, the State prepared only approximately 58% of the required dose of potassium acetate, the drug used to induce cardiac arrest.
Michael, like Gudinas and Wainwright, was convicted of a sex offense in addition to first-degree murder. His attorneys argue that these documented deviations from the written protocol raise serious constitutional concerns. If the State does not uniformly prepare and administer the required dosages in executions, similarly situated individuals may be subjectedto materially different procedures. The filings assert that such irregularities undermine reliability and violate equal protection principles by introducing arbitrary disparities into the administration of the ultimate punishment.
Who Michael is Now
Most of Michael’s life is tragic and mitigting, but his transofmration into a devout human in prison is deeply inspiring.While on death row, Michael has maintained consistent and steady behavior. He works within the institution performing plumbing and maintenance services, offering practical assistance to others in a setting defined by confinement. Over the years, he has developed and sustained a deep religious faith that has become central to his daily life.
His spiritual advisor has visited him weekly for years. Michael attends confession and receives the Eucharist regularly. He studies scripture, participates in Bible study, and attends religious services with consistency and sincerity. He became active in prison ministries, including with the Diocese of St. Augustine. Those who know him describe him as sincere, devout, and consistent in his faith practice. Faith became the core structure in Michael’s life, providing regulation and identity. He would pray with others and offer comfort, all of which demonstrates his capacity for moral reflection and identity beyond the worst act of his life.
Michael’s family members are also victims. They tragically witnessed several decades of erratic behavior following the tragic sledding accident, so they lost the loved one they could have had years before the crime. When King was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to death, they lost him as he lost his freedom.
Michael’s execution would be yet another tragedy. He had always been a nonviolent person and a cooperative inmate. He is a loving father, and his life has value to both his family and friends. His case is neither the most aggravated nor the least mitigated. Despite his horrific crime, Michael is still seen as worthy of love and care for his well-being.