Jesse Tafero

Jesse Joseph Tafero (October 12, 1946 – May 4, 1990) was an American man who was executed via electric chair in the U.S. state of Florida for the 1976 murders of 39-year-old Florida Highway Patrol officer Phillip A. Black and 39-year-old Ontario Provincial Police Corporal Donald Irwin, a visiting Canadian constable and friend of Black. The officers were killed during a traffic stop where Tafero, his wife Sunny Jacobs, and their children were passengers. Tafero's execution was botched; his head burst into flames during the execution by electric chair. Some believe Tafero to have been innocent of the murders, while others believe his guilt was clear. A few years after Tafero's conviction, the driver, Walter Rhodes, confessed to shooting the officers. However, he later retracted his testimony, saying other inmates had pressured him to confess.