Lawyers Accused of Wagering on Executions

Florida’s governor ordered an inquiry into allegations that lawyers for death row inmates made $5 wagers on whether prisoners slated for death would be executed, a state spokeswoman said Friday.

Gov. Lawton Chiles asked state investigators and the Florida Bar to determine the truth of allegations against attorneys in the Tampa office of the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, the state agency that represents death row inmates, a Chiles spokeswoman said. The allegations involve four prisoners electrocuted in March.

Chief Assistant Mike Reiter of the Tampa office said no money was collected or exchanged hands. He and others have suggested that the incident was a harmless office joke gone awry, officials said.