James Robertson, a 63-year-old Florida inmate who admitted he killed his cellmate in 2008 because he wanted to be sentenced to death, was executed Tuesday by lethal injection at Florida State Prison. He was pronounced dead about 10 minutes after the three-drug injection was administered.
Robertson declined to offer any final statement when asked whether he had last words. «Nah, I'm straight,» he replied, according to prison officials.
He had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for strangling Frank Hart while Hart slept. Robertson told investigators he killed Hart so he would receive the death penalty and avoid spending the rest of his life behind bars. He waived all appeals, clearing the way for Tuesday's execution.
Hart was killed just eight days before he was scheduled to be released, according to his daughter, Rebecca Hart, who spoke to reporters outside the prison. She said her father was not merely a piece of Robertson's story.
«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.»
Hart had been sentenced to prison in 2003 following a sexual battery conviction. Robertson was 17 years old when he was sent to prison in 1980 for burglary and assault. Additional convictions for escape, battery and weapons offenses extended his time behind bars.
Florida injects death row inmates with a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections. Jordan Kirkland, a department spokesperson, said ahead of the execution that Florida has a sound lethal injection process and protocol. While he could not speak about Tennessee's lethal injection protocol, Kirkland said Florida would make sure its process was «humane and dignified.»
Robertson's execution came two weeks after a botched execution in Tennessee, where Christa Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital and was rushed to the hospital. Pike has since been released from the hospital and returned to prison.
Florida had initially been scheduled to execute two people on Tuesday, but Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis withdrew a death warrant last week for William Lee Thompson, 74, who was sentenced to death for his role in the 1976 kidnapping and killing of 23-year-old Sally Ivester. Thompson was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery in connection with Ivester's death.
DeSantis did not provide a reason for stopping the execution. He had temporarily stayed the execution last month 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 want him transferred to a medical facility.
It was the first time DeSantis withdrew a death warrant. Thompson will remain on death row, and a new death warrant could be signed in the future. DeSantis is the third Florida governor to sign a death warrant for Thompson. Former Govs. Bob Graham and Bob Martinez each scheduled executions for Thompson in the 1980s, but he avoided the electric chair, the state's method of execution at the time, after years of appeals and stays.
Florida has accelerated its pace of executions amid a flurry of death warrants signed by DeSantis since 2025. The governor oversaw a record 19 executions last year, more than any other Florida governor in a single year since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, accounting for approximately 40% of the U.S. total for 2025.
Nationwide, 47 executions were carried out last year, the highest annual total since 2009. Florida has carried out more than half of the 31 total executions in the country so far this year.
Robertson was the state's 17th execution of 2026, with two more already scheduled, not including Thompson. William Reaves, 77, who was convicted of fatally shooting a deputy in 1986, is scheduled to be executed Oct. 20. Jesse Guardado, 64, is scheduled to be executed Nov. 5 for robbing and killing a woman to buy drugs in 2004.
In July, Florida executed two prisoners in one day, the first time a state had done so in nearly a decade.