Florida executes James Robertson, its 17th prisoner put to death in 2026, amid Tennessee scrutiny

The execution

Florida put James Robertson to death on Tuesday, 13 October, at Florida State Prison near Starke, where he was pronounced dead at 12:32 p.m. The 63-year-old received three drugs: a sedative, a paralytic and potassium acetate, which stops the heart. Robertson had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the 2008 strangling of his cellmate at Charlotte Correctional Institution, north of Fort Myers. Court records say he told investigators the attack was unprovoked and that he carried it out so he would receive a death sentence instead of remaining in prison. He had been locked up since 1980, when he was 17, on convictions for burglary and assault, and he later dropped all of his post-conviction appeals. Kirkland, the Department of Corrections spokesperson, then gave the state's account of the procedure.

The execution took place without incident.

Tennessee's failed injection

Robertson's execution came less than two weeks after the failed attempt on Christa Pike, 50, in Tennessee. On 30 September officials gave her two doses of pentobarbital, but she survived and was taken to hospital, where she woke confused. Her lawyers said she was discharged on Saturday, 10 October, and sent back to prison. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced a probe the day after the botched attempt, and his statement of 1 October set out the scope of the review:

I have ordered a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred.

Lee also said the remaining scheduled Tennessee execution would not be carried out this year. Separately, death row inmate Gary Wayne Sutton was granted a one-year reprieve while the state investigates its execution protocols, and reports give his new execution date as 7 October 2027.

Warrant withdrawn for a second inmate

DeSantis withdrew the death warrant for William Lee Thompson, 74, on Friday, 9 October. Thompson had been set to die on the same Tuesday, several hours after Robertson. He was convicted of kidnapping and murdering a 23-year-old woman in 1976. DeSantis had temporarily stayed Thompson's execution last month so he could undergo a psychiatric evaluation, and the withdrawal order cited a medical evaluation and an assessment by Thompson's lawyer suggesting he may be insane. Thompson's attorneys say he suffers from dementia and believes George W Bush is still president. State records indicate this is the first time DeSantis has withdrawn an active death warrant, and Thompson remains on death row, with a new warrant possible.

Florida's count and what comes next

Robertson was the 17th person Florida has executed in 2026. The state carried out 19 executions in 2025, the highest annual total in Florida since capital punishment returned in 1976. Florida accounts for more than half of the 31 executions carried out in the United States this year. Two more executions are scheduled: William Reaves, 77, on 20 October for the 1986 murder of a sheriff's deputy in Indian River County, and Jesse Guardado, 64, on 5 November for the 2004 killing of a 74-year-old woman in Walton County. If both proceed, Florida would match its 2025 record of 19 in a calendar year. DeSantis leaves office in January 2027.