DeSantis signs warrant for 22nd Florida execution of the year
Willie Seth Crain, 80, was convicted in the 1998 disappearance of 7-year-old Amanda Brown, and exonerees are asking Gov.-elect Byron Donalds to pause executions.
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Willie Seth Crain, 80, was convicted in the 1998 disappearance of 7-year-old Amanda Brown, and exonerees are asking Gov.-elect Byron Donalds to pause executions.
Sharon MacIvor says "closure" may not be the right word, and she plans to be a voice for her parents, who died before the death warrant was signed.
Florida has carried out a record-tying 19th execution of the year as three states were administering the death penalty on the same day.
Thomas Overton, 70, was sentenced to death in 1999 for killing Michael and Missy MacIvor, who was eight months pregnant, and the state executed William Reaves a day earlier.
Jesse Guardado, 64, is scheduled to be executed on Nov. 5 and would be the 20th person put to death in Florida this year, topping the 19 carried out in 2025.
Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike is in critical condition after surviving two lethal injections during a failed execution, prompting an investigation into what went wrong.
The warrant signed by DeSantis is for James "Chicken Head" Robertson, 63, who is set to be the first of two executions to occur by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Stark on Oct. 13.
William Reaves is set to be executed on Oct. 20 for shooting Deputy Richard Raczkowski 4 times in the back.
William Lee Thompson, 74, has now received 3 death warrants from Florida governors for the murder of Sally Ivester.
Curtis Beasley is set for execution on Sept. 29 and is the 16th death row inmate to receive a warrant in Florida this year.
The warrant is the 15th DeSantis has signed this year; Florida has executed 12 inmates so far in 2026.
The warrant calls for Harold Gene Lucas, 74, to die Sept. 1 by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Starke.
Florida on Tuesday became the first state in nearly a decade to carry out two executions in a single day, putting to death an 80-year-old man who was the second-oldest inmate known to receive a lethal injection in modern U.S. history.
Rafael Andres, 61, had previously been sentenced to death in 2015 for the 2005 murder of Yvette Farinas, but the Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing trial following an appeal.
James Aren Duckett, 68, now awaits action on a similar request from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Dominick Occhicone, who also awaits a similar request before the U.S. Supreme Court, killed his former girlfriend's parents four decades ago in Pasco County.
William Frances Silvia, 61, is scheduled for execution by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on Aug. 18, according to the warrant.
The action by DeSantis sets up two executions to take place at Florida State Prison on July 28, with James Aren Duckett scheduled to die at noon and Dominick Anthony Occhicone, 80, at 6 p.m., both by lethal injection.
Dusty Ray Spencer, 74, would become the oldest person put to death in Florida since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, and the ninth man executed in Florida this year.
Dusty Ray Spencer, 74, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on June 25 at Florida State Prison in Stark, according to the warrant.
Chadwick Willacy, 58, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on April 21, the sixth warrant DeSantis has signed this year.
This is the third warrant the governor has signed in the new year, with the state setting a modern-era record with 19 executions last year.
Walls was convicted in the July 22, 1987, murders of Edward Alger and Ann Peterson after breaking into their home in the early morning hours.
Randolph, 63, could be a record 17th inmate executed this year in Florida.
A man convicted of killing a 6-year-old girl who was abducted from her bedroom has been executed in Florida, which was the record 16th death sentence carried out under Gov. Ron DeSantis.
