Steven Lorenzo, 63, a Florida man who asked that the judge sentence him to death after he confessed to torturing and killing two gay men in 2003 was granted his wish on Friday for the brutal murders of Jason Galehouse and Michael Wachholtz, both were 26.  

In December 2003, Lorenzo and sidekick Scott Schweickert lured Galehouse and Wachholtz separately to Lorenzo’s home in Tampa. with promises of drinks and a bondage session. Schweickert said that Galehouse, who was already strapped down to the bed, was put in a chokehold by Lorenzo and struggled until he stopped moving .

Speaking at Lorenzo’s trial, Pam Williams, Galehouse’s mom, asked the judge to give him the death penalty, describing the pain she went through after her son died.: “ou are the scumbag of the Earth, and I cannot believe how you can sit there with no remorse, no ‘I’m sorry,’ no nothing,” Williams said to Lorenzo in court. “I don’t have a grave, I don’t have a tombstone, all I got is ground-up hamburger meat in the ground because of you, you scumbag. That’s exactly what you are. You should be dead already, as far as I’m concerned. You put me through holy hell.”

Also speaking at the trail Wachholtz’s mother, Ruth Wachholtz, said with tears in her eyes that he should be sentenced to death: “What he did to my son before murdering him should be done to him, eye for an eye,” Ruth Wachholtz said. “For 20 years he lived, and Michael hasn’t. At taxpayers’ expense, no less. It’s time to end this.”

In a 147-page letter filed to the court in November, Lorenzo, who represented himself, withdrew his not-guilty plea and requested the death penalty for his crimes, stating that the “comforts they get in death row are a lot more comfortable than it is in the federal system.” Adding: “That’s fine, I don’t really care, it doesn’t bother me, because the defense wants the death penalty. The defense is saying, ‘Yes, give me the death penalty, that is absolutely great,’” Lorenzo said in court. 

We agree.