Corrections

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.

Tennessee's botched execution of Christa Pike on Sept. 30 came after months of warnings that officials dismissed, according to court records and attorneys. Pike's lawyers had told the state nine months earlier that her unusually difficult veins and a blood disorder, thrombocytosis, made her a high risk for a failed lethal injection, predicting she would suffer "unnecessary and superadded pain and suffering, terror, and disgrace." Courts, including the Tennessee Supreme Court, rejected requests for alternative methods or additional safeguards.

The warnings proved accurate just months after the state botched the May execution of Tony Carruthers, who survived more than an hour strapped down before officials abandoned the attempt. The same doctor, Mark Fowler, oversaw both botched procedures despite not having placed a central line in over a decade.

Gov. Bill Lee has ordered an investigation, canceled the state's remaining execution this year, and announced the resignation of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada, but has resisted calls to commute Pike's sentence. The episode adds to Tennessee's long history of execution complications dating back nearly two decades.

Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada is resigning this month, Gov. Bill Lee announced, in the first major fallout from Christa Pike's botched execution. Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital on Wednesday and was left unconscious on a ventilator; her legal team said IV line problems likely caused the drug to miss her bloodstream. Lee has halted further executions and named former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton to lead an independent review, the same role Stanton held after a 2022 execution was called off for protocol violations. Strada, who previously oversaw Arizona executions marked by similar IV complications, defended Tennessee's handling of the procedure, though Pike's attorneys called it a "systemic failure."

This is the second failed Tennessee execution since May, when officials aborted Tony Carruthers's execution after more than an hour of unsuccessful IV attempts. That incident had already spurred bipartisan calls, including from state Rep. Scott Cepicky, for a special legislative session and a pause on executions while lethal injection protocols are reviewed.