Florida State Prison

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Ricardo Gonzalez, 56, setting his execution for Dec. 1 at Florida State Prison. Gonzalez was convicted of fatally shooting North Miami Beach Police Officer Steven Bauer during a 1992 armed bank robbery, along with three codefendants. If carried out, the execution would be Florida's 21st this year, extending a record-setting pace that already surpasses the state's previous single-year high of 19 executions. Nationally, 32 executions have been carried out across six states in 2025, with Texas a distant second to Florida. No appeals outcome has been confirmed, and two other Florida executions are scheduled before Gonzalez's date.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Thomas Mitchell Overton, now 70, scheduling his execution for Nov. 18 at Florida State Prison in Starke. Overton was convicted in 1999 for the August 1992 murders of Michael MacIvor and his pregnant wife, Missy, in Tavernier, after breaking into their home. DNA evidence tied him to the crime scene. If carried out, this would be Florida's 20th execution this year, the highest annual total since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The warrant comes a day after Florida executed William Reaves for killing a sheriff's deputy, and precedes Jesse Guardado's scheduled Nov. 5 execution.

Florida executed William Reaves, 77, by lethal injection on Tuesday evening at Florida State Prison for the 1986 killing of Indian River County Sheriff's Deputy Richard Raczkoski, the state's 18th execution this year under Gov. Ron DeSantis. Reaves, a Vietnam veteran whose lawyers cited PTSD from his combat service, declined a final statement after his appeals were rejected by the Florida Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court. Raczkoski's family and the sheriff who witnessed the execution said it brought closure, though the sheriff disputed it amounted to justice. Florida accounts for more than half of the 32 executions nationwide this year; a scheduled November 5 execution of Jesse Guardado would tie the state's record of 19, set last year.

Florida carried out its 18th execution of 2025 on Tuesday, putting to death William Reaves, 77, for the 1986 killing of Indian River County Deputy Richard Raczkowski. Reaves became the state's eighth death-row prisoner over 70 executed this year. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal without comment; his attorneys had challenged Florida's three-drug lethal injection protocol and argued jurors were never told Reaves, a Vietnam veteran, was rated 100% disabled by PTSD. More than 100 veterans had asked Gov. Ron DeSantis to halt the execution. Florida set a record with 19 executions last year, and a November 5 execution of Jesse Guardado would tie that mark.

Florida executed James Robertson, 63, on Tuesday for the 2008 strangling of his cellmate, Frank Hart, at Charlotte Correctional Institution. Robertson pleaded guilty, waived all appeals, and told investigators he killed Hart specifically to secure a death sentence rather than remain in prison for life. He declined last words and was pronounced dead about 10 minutes after a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, in the state's first execution since a botched Tennessee execution two weeks earlier.

Gov. Ron DeSantis had been set to carry out a second execution the same day but withdrew the death warrant for William Lee Thompson without explanation, following a prior stay for psychiatric evaluation; Thompson, whose attorneys cite dementia and failing health, remains on death row. Robertson's execution was Florida's 17th of 2026, with William Reaves and Jesse Guardado scheduled next for Oct. 20 and Nov. 5, which would match the state's 2025 total. DeSantis oversaw a record 19 executions in 2025, and Florida has carried out more than half of the 31 executions nationwide so far this year, amid heightened scrutiny following Tennessee's failed lethal injection and a planned livestreamed firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan.

James Robertson, 63, was executed by lethal injection Tuesday in Starke, Florida, for strangling his cellmate Frank Hart in 2008, eight days before Hart's scheduled release. Robertson had pleaded guilty and waived all appeals, telling investigators he killed Hart specifically to secure a death sentence rather than remain in prison, where he had been serving time since 1980. He declined last words and died about 10 minutes after the injection, a procedure state officials called humane, drawing contrast with Tennessee's botched execution of Christa Pike two weeks earlier.

Robertson was one of two executions scheduled in Florida that day, but Gov. Ron DeSantis withdrew the death warrant for William Lee Thompson, 74, citing concerns over his health, marking the first such withdrawal by DeSantis. Robertson was Florida's 17th execution of 2026, continuing a record pace under DeSantis, who oversaw 19 executions in 2025, the most by any Florida governor since the death penalty's reinstatement in 1976. Two more executions are scheduled in Florida for October and November. Florida accounts for more than half of the 31 executions carried out nationwide so far this year.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has withdrawn the death warrant for William Lee Thompson, 74, the first time he has reversed a signed execution order since taking office. Thompson had been scheduled to die Tuesday for the 1976 murder, kidnapping and sexual battery of Sally Ivester in Dade County. DeSantis gave no reason in his Thursday letter to the Florida State Prison warden, but the move follows reports from Thompson's attorneys that he suffers from dementia, heart failure and declining cognitive capacity, including not recognizing he had been sentenced to death. DeSantis had previously ordered a psychiatric panel to evaluate Thompson's sanity after counsel argued he could not understand his impending execution. The Florida Supreme Court had denied a stay hours before DeSantis acted. Thompson remains on death row and could receive a new warrant later.

A second execution scheduled for the same day, James Robertson, 63, convicted of killing his cellmate in 2008, is still set to proceed. The reversal comes amid heightened scrutiny of capital punishment nationally following Tennessee's botched execution attempt of Christa Pike.

Florida executed Curtis Wilkie Beasley, 77, Tuesday evening at Florida State Prison near Starke, pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a three-drug lethal injection, for the 1995 murder of Carolyn Monfort, 62, whom he beat to death with a claw hammer while staying at her Dundee home doing painting work. Investigators found her body in a blood-splattered laundry room after her daughter could not reach her; a bloody hammer was recovered nearby, and Monfort's blood was found on a shirt identified as Beasley's. Prosecutors said Beasley took Monfort's car and fled, eventually to Alabama, where he was arrested working under a fake name for an electrical company. Convicted and sentenced to death in 1998, Beasley apologized for "all the mistakes" he made in a final statement but had long maintained his innocence. The Florida Supreme Court rejected appeals citing his age and cognitive decline, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied his final appeal without comment.

This was Florida's 16th execution and the 29th nationally this year, and the seventh Florida execution this year of a prisoner over 70, as the state nears last year's record of 19. Two more Florida executions are scheduled for October, though Gov. Ron DeSantis has paused one pending a competency evaluation of William Lee Thompson, 74, amid dementia concerns. William Reaves, 77, is set for execution Oct. 20. Tennessee separately executed Christa Pike this week, its first execution of a woman in 200 years.