Florida's 17th Execution Of This Year Is Scheduled For Tuesday

By Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix

October 12, 2026

The state of Florida is set to execute 62-year-old James Robertson by lethal injection at noon Tuesday at Florida State Prison in Bradford County. It would be the 17th carried out in Florida this year.

The 16 executions to date in Florida are more than all the other states in the country this year combined (14), according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Unlike most death row inmates, Robertson has never challenged his death sentence. That’s prompted an anti-death penalty advocacy group to argue his behavior challenges the “misconception” that the death penalty deters crime.

Robertson was imprisoned at Charlotte Correctional Institution in 2008 when he strangled his cellmate with a garrote he made by tying several socks together, according to prosecutors.

At the time, Robertson was 45 years old and had been in prison for 28 years, having first been convicted of a felony before his 18th birthday. Subsequent convictions for offenses committed within the prison system resulted in additional sentences.

The state initially charged him with second-degree murder and offered a life sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. He rejected that offer and said he should be charged with first-degree murder because he admitted that the killing was premeditated.

Robertson has waived all appeals, including on Oct. 1 in the Circuit Court for the 20th Judicial Circuit in Charlotte County.

In that hearing, Robertson acknowledged he had written a letter to then-Attorney General Ashley Moody in 2023 asking why his execution was taking so long. According to court documents, Robertson was asked by the court why he wanted to dismiss postconviction proceedings.

“Because I was found guilty,” he said. “You know, I chose the death penalty over the life sentence, and I just, you know, want the sentence to be carried out.”

In a written statement, the group Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty argue the phenomenon of an individual committing a crime with the goal of being executed is not rare, citing a 1999 article in the Journal of Criminal Justice that identified at least 22 suspected cases of “homicide as suicide.”

They insist his case challenges the “misconception” the death penalty deters crime.

“Frank Hart [the victim] deserved to be safe in state custody, and his loved ones deserve our compassion,” said Maria DeLiberato, legal and policy director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

“When someone commits murder to try to secure his own execution, we have to confront the conditions that contributed to that decision and the reality that the existence of the death penalty may have caused the very violence it purportedly prevents. Florida has a responsibility to protect the people in its prisons and address the despair that can put their lives, and the lives of others, at risk.”

Robertson’s execution was originally scheduled to be the first of two scheduled this year, along with William Thompson. However, Gov. Ron DeSantis withdrew the death warrant for Thompson last week. He did not provide an explanation, but his decision came a week after more than 100 medical professionals sent a letter calling on him to do so, noting that Thompson suffers from dementia and additional medical ailments.

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