Florida executed James Robertson, 63, at Florida State Prison on Tuesday. He had said he killed his cellmate to receive a death sentence rather than spend the rest of his life behind bars. Robertson received a three-drug injection and died about 10 minutes later. Asked for final words, he replied, “Nah, I'm straight.”
Frank Hart was killed eight days before his scheduled release. His daughter, Rebecca Hart, spoke to reporters outside the prison about the loss her family still carries. “When someone you love is taken from you in such a violent way, the world keeps moving, even when a part of yours feels like it has stopped,” she said. “Other people go on with their lives, but you carry your loss into every tomorrow.”
The state's execution process
Robertson pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for strangling Hart while he slept in 2008. He waived all appeals and told investigators he killed Hart so he would receive a death sentence. Hart had received a prison sentence in 2003 after a sexual battery conviction.
Robertson was 17 when prison authorities sent him there in 1980 for burglary and assault. Later convictions for escape, battery and weapons offenses extended his sentence. Florida's Department of Corrections says the execution process uses three drugs: a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart.
Jordan Kirkland, a state Department of Corrections spokesperson, defended the process before the execution. “Florida has a sound lethal injection process and protocol,” he said. He said he couldn't speak about Tennessee's protocol, but Florida would ensure its process was “humane and dignified.”
The execution came two weeks after Tennessee's botched execution of Christa Pike. Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital, went to a hospital, and has since left the hospital and returned to prison.
Florida's execution drive
Florida initially scheduled two executions for Tuesday. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis withdrew a death warrant last week for William Lee Thompson, 74, who remains on death row. Thompson was sentenced to death for his role in the 1976 kidnapping and killing of 23-year-old Sally Ivester. A jury convicted him of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery in connection with her death.
DeSantis gave no reason for withdrawing Thompson's warrant. Last month, he temporarily stayed the execution pending a psychiatric evaluation, amid concerns about Thompson's mental competency and deteriorating health. Thompson's attorneys said he has dementia and failing health and asked that he be transferred to a medical facility. DeSantis could still sign a new warrant.
It was DeSantis's first withdrawal of a death warrant. He is the third Florida governor to sign one for Thompson. Former Govs. Bob Graham and Bob Martinez each scheduled executions for him in the 1980s, but years of appeals and stays kept Thompson from the electric chair, Florida's execution method at the time.
Executions under DeSantis
Florida executed two prisoners in one day in July. No state had done so in nearly a decade. Florida has stepped up executions amid a flurry of death warrants DeSantis has signed since 2025. The governor oversaw 19 executions last year, a record for a Florida governor in a single year since the death penalty returned in 1976.
Those 19 executions made up approximately 40% of the U.S. total for 2025. Nationwide, officials carried out 47 executions last year, the highest annual total since 2009. Florida has carried out more than half of the country's 31 executions so far this year. Robertson was Florida's 17th execution of 2026.
Two more Florida executions were already scheduled, apart from Thompson's. William Reaves, 77, was scheduled for execution Oct. 20 after his conviction for fatally shooting a deputy in 1986. Jesse Guardado, 64, was scheduled for Nov. 5 for robbing and killing a woman to buy drugs in 2004. The Associated Press contributed to the report.