MIAMI — A Florida prisoner who said he killed his cellmate so he could be transferred to death row is scheduled to be executed Tuesday, nearly 18 years after the fatal attack.
James Robertson, 63, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and waived all pleas in the 2008 strangulation of Frank Hart. Robertson is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection at the Florida State Prison near Starke starting at noon.
Robertson was supposed to be one of two executions carried out in Florida on Tuesday, but Gov. Ron DeSantis last week withdrew a stay of execution against William Lee Thompson. The Republican governor did not give a reason for withdrawing Thompson’s execution order, but temporarily stayed his execution last month pending a psychiatric evaluation.
Records show this is the first time DeSantis has withdrawn a death warrant, which doesn’t technically change Thompson’s sentence. He will remain on death row and a new death warrant could be signed against him in the future.
Robertson’s execution comes at a time of intensifying attention to the death penalty in the United States. In Tennessee, Christa Pike survived an execution attempt two weeks ago, despite two lethal doses of pentobarbital. And last week, the Pentagon announced that the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan would be broadcast live.
Robertson wanted to be on death row
According to court records, Robertson was incarcerated at the Charlotte Correctional Facility, north of Fort Myers, in December 2008, when he tied several socks together and strangled Hart while the other man slept. Robertson told investigators the attack was unprovoked and that he killed his cellmate so he would be sentenced to death, rather than have to live out his days in prison.
Robertson was 17 when he went to prison in 1980 for burglary and assault. Years of prison escape, battery and weapons convictions continued to add time to his total sentence. Hart was sent to prison in 2003 following a sexual assault conviction.
Robertson pleaded guilty and waived a penalty phase, during which a jury would recommend the death penalty or life in prison. A judge sentenced Robertson to death, and he later waived any post-conviction proceedings. Robertson reiterated his position at a hearing earlier this month, telling a judge that he understood his execution had been scheduled and that he did not want to make a final appeal to the Florida Supreme Court or the U.S. Supreme Court.
Opponents of the death penalty question its deterrent effect
While supporters of the death penalty have long claimed that it has a deterrent effect, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty released a statement saying this case demonstrates otherwise.
“Frank Hart deserved to be safe in the state’s custody, and his loved ones deserve our compassion,” the group’s legal and policy director, Maria DeLiberato, said in the statement. “When a person commits murder in an attempt to secure their own execution, we must confront the conditions that contributed to that decision and the reality that the existence of the death penalty may have caused the violence it is intended to prevent. »
Rare reprieve leaves another Florida prisoner on death row
Meanwhile, DeSantis is the third Florida governor to sign a death warrant against Thompson. Bob Graham and Bob Martinez both scheduled Thompson’s execution in the 1980s, but years of appeals and reprieves allowed him to avoid the electric chair, the method of execution used by the state at the time. The 74-year-old death row inmate was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery in the 1976 killing of 23-year-old Sally Ivester.
Thompson will remain on death row in Florida and a new death warrant could be signed against him in the future. His lawyers said he suffered from dementia and his health was deteriorating. They said he should be transferred to a suitable medical facility to receive the care he needs.
Only one other Florida inmate remains alive following a death warrant signed by DeSantis. James Dailey, 80, was scheduled to die in late 2019 for the murder of a 14-year-old girl, but a federal judge stayed the execution as lawyers argued against his guilt. The stay was eventually lifted, but DeSantis did not sign a new death warrant. The state halted all executions during the COVID-19 pandemic and did not resume until 2023.
Florida has the busiest death chamber in the country
DeSantis, who leaves office in January, has overseen 19 executions in 2025, more than any other Florida governor in a single year since reinstating the death penalty in 1976. Robertson would be the state’s 17th execution in 2026, with two more already scheduled, not including Thompson.
William Reaves, 77, is scheduled to be executed on October 20, followed by Jesse Guardado, 64, on November 5. Reaves was convicted of fatally shooting a deputy after dropping a gun in front of the law enforcement officer in 1986. Guardado was convicted of robbing and killing a woman in order to buy drugs in 2004.
If Robertson, Reaves and Guardado are all executed as scheduled, that would match the state’s total for 2025, with eight weeks remaining in 2026.
DeSantis has made few public comments on the unprecedented number of executions, but has previously explained that his goal is to bring justice to victims’ families who have waited decades for death sentences to be carried out.
“I felt like I owed it to them to make sure everything went smoothly. If I honestly thought someone was innocent, I wouldn’t pull the trigger,” the governor said last year.
A total of 47 people were executed in the United States in 2025. In addition to leading all other states last year, Florida has carried out more than half of the 30 total executions in the United States so far this year. In July, Florida executed two prisoners in a single day, the first state to do so in nearly a decade.
All executions in Florida are carried out by lethal injection of a sedative, paralytic and heart-stopping drug, according to the Department of Corrections.
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