Overview:

The Florida Supreme Court has denied Mesac Damas’ final appeal. The Haitian American man was sentenced to death for killing his wife and five children in 2009. The case continues to raise awareness around domestic violence, mental health and cultural stigma.

The Florida Supreme Court has denied a new trial for Mesac Damas, a Haitian American man sentenced to death for killing his wife and five children in their North Naples home in 2009 — one of Florida’s most brutal family murders in decades.

In a unanimous decision issued Oct. 1, the Florida Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that Mesac Damas was mentally competent and had adequate legal representation. The justices dismissed his final appeal for a new trial, closing the door on more than a decade of legal challenges stemming from the 2009 murders.

Damas, now 49, pleaded guilty in 2017 to six counts of first-degree murder for killing his wife, Guerline Dieu Damas, 32, and their five young children — Meshach, 9; Maven, 6; Marven, 5; Megan, 3; and Morgan, 19 months.  Investigators said that their bodies were discovered inside the family’s townhouse in Collier County, their throats slit and multiple stab wounds covering their bodies. 

After the brutal killings, the Florida man fled to Haiti, where he was captured by U.S. Marshals in collaboration with Haitian authorities and extradited to the United States. He later confessed, attributing his actions to “bad spirits” and alleged Vodou spells.

Justice John Couriel, writing for the court, said Damas’ claims of incompetence lacked evidence, citing 12 separate mental health evaluations by five experts between 2009 and 2017. Justice Jorge Labarga, concurring, added that the circuit court “treated the issue of Damas’s competency with the serious consideration required” throughout the years of proceedings.

 “The issue of Damas’s competency was treated with the serious consideration required under Florida law,” Labarga wrote.

Damas remains on death row at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Florida.

A crime that shocked Florida and Haiti amid calls for awareness

The murders stunned Florida’s Haitian diaspora, particularly in Collier County, home to one of the state’s largest Haitian American communities. The case ignited conversations about domestic violence, mental health and family pressures within immigrant households — issues often discussed only in private.

Community leader Patrick Massillon, president of the International Haitian Corporation of Southwest Florida, told WGCU PBS & NPR that the tragedy marked a turning point for local awareness.

“Right after the murder — the Damas killings … We felt there was a need to educate the community about domestic violence,” Massillon said.

Following the murders, Haitian churches, advocacy groups and nonprofits began launching initiatives to promote domestic violence awareness, offering counseling and educational workshops in Creole.

Some Haitian churches have become central to outreach efforts, underscoring their significant influence in the lives of immigrants. Today, many continue to look to the church leaders for guidance and advice as local pastors are encouraged to use sermons to address violence and family conflict, marking a rare public conversation on issues traditionally treated as taboo in Haitian culture.

Why this case still resonates

For many Haitian Americans, the Damas case underscores the intersection of migration stress, faith, culture and mental health — and how silence around domestic problems can have tragic consequences.

Advocates in South Florida say the case still fuels efforts to strengthen family counseling services and to educate new immigrants about legal and social resources available to prevent domestic abuse.

While Damas’ appeals have ended, his case remains a painful reference point — both for its unimaginable violence and for how it galvanized Haitian American communities across Florida to confront uncomfortable truths about family dynamics, faith, and the need for support networks.

For many Haitian Americans, the tragedy became a painful mirror reflecting the pressures faced by immigrant families — isolation, cultural conflict, economic hardship and the stigma surrounding mental illness. It also fueled conversations about the need for culturally competent counseling and stronger community support systems.

Today, Damas remains on death row. The families of the victims and many in the Haitian diaspora see the ruling not only as an end to a long legal battle but as a renewed call to confront domestic violence and family trauma in their own communities — before they lead to irreversible loss.

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