Psychiatrist

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 Ron DeSantis has withdrawn the death warrant for William Lee Thompson, 74, the first time he has reversed a signed execution order since taking office.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.