COLUMBIA, S.C., Sept. 6 -- Unrepentant to the end, a South Carolina man who killed three people during a month-long mayhem spree in 1987 died of lethal injection Friday. Corrections officials said Michael Torrence turned ashen gray following the injection and was pronounced dead at 1:21 a.m. Before dying, Torrence said he had 'no remorse' over the killings. The execution was carried out on schedule despite the potential threat of Hurricane Fran, which eventually stormed ashore in neighboring North Carolina Thursday night. Torrence was executed after spending eight years on death row for stabbing to death a South County, S.C., textile worker during a motel robbery. He was the seventh person put to death in the state since lawmakers restored the death penalty in 1977. Prosecutor Donnie Myers said he met with Myers last week and found him unrepentant. 'He told me he hadn't lost a damn second of sleep over the execution,' Myers said. 'Killing someone doesn't bother Mike in the slightest. He thinks it was just a job he had to do.' During his second trial, which resulted in the death sentence, Torrence made a spontaneous confession in which he detailed the slaying. 'He was talking so much that I just backed off and let him be my witness. He relished telling the jury about how he killed three people,' Myers said. 'He's brilliant and has no conscience. That's a terrifying combination.' The Lexington County jury sentenced Torrence to death for stabbing Dennis Lollis, a textile worker, 19 times Feb. 12, 1987 during a robbery at a motel.
He received a life sentence for using a dog leash the night before to strangle Charles Bush, who worked with Lollis and shared a room with him at the motel. Torrence also received a life sentence for a third murder, committed a month after he killed Bush and Lollis. In March 1987, he fired a sawed-off shotgun into the chest of Cynthia Williams, a prostitute he had dated. Prison officials viewed Torrence as one of the most dangerous men on Death Row. In 1990, correction officers found entrance and gate keys for the maximum security unit hidden inside a TV set in Torrence's cell.
