Florida set to execute James Robertson, who killed cellmate in 2008 to get a death sentence

Mixed · 2Florida was set to execute James Robertson, 63, on Tuesday 13 October 2026 by three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, starting at noon. 1 2 Mixed · 2Robertson pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and waived all appeals over the December 2008 strangling of his cellmate Frank Hart at Charlotte Correctional Institution, north of Fort Myers. 1 2 Mixed · 2According to court records, Robertson tied several socks together and strangled Hart while he slept. Robertson told investigators the attack was unprovoked and that he did it to be sentenced to death rather than live out his days in prison. 1 2

Centre · 1Robertson had been in prison since 1980, when he was 17, for burglary and assault, and later convictions for escape, battery and weapons offences added to his sentence. Hart had been sent to prison in 2003 after a sexual battery conviction. 1 Centre · 1Robertson waived a penalty phase, a judge sentenced him to death, and he later waived all post-conviction proceedings. At a hearing earlier this month he told a judge he did not want to make final appeals to the Florida Supreme Court or US Supreme Court. 1 Centre · 1A second execution planned for the same day, that of William Lee Thompson, 74, was called off when Gov. Ron DeSantis withdrew his death warrant last week without giving a reason. DeSantis had temporarily stayed it last month pending a psychiatric evaluation. Records show it is the first time he has withdrawn a warrant. Thompson stays on death row and a new warrant could be signed. His attorneys say he has dementia and failing health. 1

Centre · 1Florida Department of Corrections spokesperson Jordan Kirkland was asked how the state would avoid a repeat of Tennessee, where Christa Pike survived an execution attempt two weeks earlier. He said Florida has "a sound lethal injection process and protocol" and is committed to carrying it out "in a humane and dignified manner." 1 Centre · 1Maria DeLiberato of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty said the case undermines claims that executions deter murder, arguing that "the existence of the death penalty may have caused the very violence it purportedly prevents." 1 Centre · 1Robertson would be Florida's 17th execution of 2026, with William Reaves, 77, set for 20 October and Jesse Guardado, 64, for 5 November. DeSantis, who leaves office in January, oversaw 19 executions in 2025, a single-year record for a Florida governor since 1976, and has said his goal is justice for victims' families. Florida has carried out more than half of the 30 US executions so far this year. 1