Jury doles out death penalty for Tomoka inmate and corrections guard murderer Enoch Hall

Courtesy photos.Corrections officer Donna Fitzgerald was murdered by an inmate at Tomoka prison -- stabbed 25 times on June 25 while she was working alone in a section of the prison with 13 inmates. A jury Thursday night unanimously recommended a death sentence for Enoch Hall.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Corrections officer Donna Fitzgerald was a single mother working extra hours at the Tomoka Correctional Institute when she was savagely attacked the night of June 25 -- stabbed 25 times to death by an inmate already serving two life sentences. Now a death sentence has been recommended for her killer. That inmate, Enoch Hall, already found guilty of capital murder at trial, could be headed to Florida's death row after the 12-member jury deliberated 2 1/2 hours before returning a unanimous recommendation of death just after 7:30 p.m., said State Attorney spokesman Christopher Kelley.

Hall, 40, stabbed Fitzgerald more than two dozen times with a shank made of sheet metal in an isolated area after she went looking for him. She was unarmed.

Circuit Judge J. David Walsh will sentence Hall on Dec. 7 and could ignore the jury's recommendation, but that is unlikely since the Florida Supreme Court has established the fact that jurry recommendations are given "great weight," especially when they are unanimous in their decision. The same jury found Hall guilty of capital murder after deliberating two hours at the Justice Center.

Hall was already serving two life sentences for raping and kidnapping a 66-year-old Pensacola woman. Fitzgerald was found dead an hour after colleagues tried reaching her on her radio. Three employees there were demoted and a new warden was assigned in the aftermath of Fitzgerald's brutal murder.