Zane Floyd

After attending high school, Floyd enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He was honorably discharged, but was told that he was not welcome to re-enlist because of his heavy drinking.[3] Before the shooting that led to his conviction, he worked as a security guard and part-time as a bouncer at a bar.[4]

On 3 June 1999, at approximately 5:15 in the morning, Floyd entered an Albertson's supermarket in Las Vegas and opened fire on random individuals in the store using a shotgun.[5]

Floyd first shot 40-year-old worker Thomas Darnell in the back, killing him.[5] Immediately after, he also killed 41-year-old store manager Carlos Chuck Leos and 31-year-old worker Dennis Troy Sargent.[5] Floyd then encountered 23-year-old worker Zachary T. Emenegger, who fled from Floyd when he saw the gunman pointing the shotgun in his direction,[5] beginning a bizarre sequence of near death encounters with the gunman. Diving under a produce table, Emenegger avoided Floyd's initial gunfire for 15 seconds, but ultimately was shot in the upper-chest region resulting in a punctured lung. Floyd then saw Emenegger move and shot him again. Emenegger than played dead. Believing his victim was dead, Floyd callously whispered, "Yeah, you're dead," and proceeded to continue searching the store. Eventually, Floyd discovered 60-year-old clerk Lucille Alice Tarantino in the rear of the store and fatally shot her in the head at point-blank range. Floyd then walked back toward Emenegger and examined what he assumed was his victim's corpse before walking away. However, thinking that Floyd was gone, Emenegger attempted to get up and go for help. In another bizarre twist of fate, Emenegger collapsed back onto the ground from a lack of energy as Floyd simultaneously rounded the corner of the aisle on which Emenegger was trapped. Emenegger's collapsing a split-second before Floyd rounded the corner was incidental, however, owing its cause to Emenegger's rapidly deteriorating physical condition rather than a strategic re-continuing of pretending to be dead. Emenegger later recounted that he was completely unaware that Floyd had even made his way back to that particular side of the store, until Emenegger heard him walking back in that direction, just after he had collapsed. Floyd initially walked past Emenegger's motionless body and started to leave the store but abruptly stopped, and doubled back to once again ensure Emenegger was dead. After watching for a moment, Floyd finally fled from the store and was confronted by Las Vegas police officers who eventually took him into custody after an 8-minute standoff in the parking lot. In total, Floyd had shot seven shotgun shells, killing four people and critically wounding another. Floyd left the supermarket approximately seven minutes after he entered. Emenegger, although critically wounded, was the only survivor.

It later emerged that shortly before the shooting, Floyd had telephoned an escort agency and called for the services of a young woman at his apartment.[5][6] When a 20-year-old woman arrived at the apartment at around 3:30 a.m., Floyd threatened her with a shotgun and forced her to engage in vaginal intercourse, anal intercourse, digital penetration and fellatio. He eventually told her she had 60 seconds to run or be killed. After she escaped, Floyd took his shotgun and at around 5:00 am began to walk to the supermarket.[5]

Floyd left through the supermarket's north doors to meet the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, who had been called by an employee who had been upstairs and believed there was a robbery in progress.[7] Without exchanging any gunfire, Floyd ran back into the supermarket and left through the west doors, hoping to avoid the police outside. When he noticed that the complex was surrounded by officers, Floyd threatened to kill himself, pointing the shotgun to his head. After an eight-minute standoff, police convinced him to surrender. They immediately arrested him on charges of murder.

When questioned by police, Floyd confessed to the killings and said that he committed the murders because he had always wanted to know what it was like to kill someone.[8]

Floyd went to trial under the judgment of a Nevada state jury. The jurors heard Floyd's confession and watched the video from store surveillance cameras.[8] Floyd did not testify at the three-day trial, where Emenegger, the only survivor of Floyd's rampage, testified against him.[9] On 13 July 2000, after deliberating for little more than two hours,[9] the jury convicted him of four counts of first degree murder with use of a deadly weapon, four counts of sexual assault with use of a deadly weapon, and single counts of burglary while in possession of a firearm, attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon, and first degree kidnaping with use of a deadly weapon.[10][11]

The jury rendered a sentence of death for each count of murder, finding that the aggravating circumstances outweighed any mitigating circumstances.[11] For the other seven offenses, the district court imposed the maximum terms in prison, to be served consecutively.[11] The court also ordered restitution totaling more than 180,000 dollars.[11]

Floyd filed a direct appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court, which affirmed his conviction and sentence in March 2002.[12] In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari.[13] Floyd subsequently filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the state district court. The petition was denied and the Nevada Supreme Court affirmed the denial on appeal.[14]

Floyd then pursued a pro se habeas petition in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, challenging his conviction and death sentence. The court stayed federal proceedings pending exhaustion of certain claims in state court, prompting Floyd to file a second state habeas petition in state district court. The state district court denied relief in April 2009. The Nevada Supreme Court affirmed, holding that Floyd's second petition was untimely and successive.[15] The U.S. District Court then lifted the stay in March 2011. Floyd filed a second amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus. In December 2014, the U.S. District Court granted in part the State's motion to dismiss and denied Floyd's remaining claims on the merits; however, it issued a certificate of appealability as to several issues.[16]

Consequently, Floyd lodged an appeal in the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In October 2019, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of Floyd's habeas petition.[17] Floyd's ensuing petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc was denied.[18] In July 2020, he filed a petition for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging the Ninth Circuit's application of the Strickland standard.[19] That petition was denied in November 2020.[20]

• List of death row inmates in the United States