Overview
- James Robertson was pronounced dead at 12:32 p.m. after a three‑drug lethal injection on Tuesday, completing a case in which he pleaded guilty, waived all appeals and said he killed his cellmate to obtain a death sentence.
- Robertson strangled fellow prisoner Frank Hart in 2008 with a ligature made from socks while Hart slept and later rejected a life‑sentence offer, according to court records.
- Robertson’s execution is Florida’s 17th so far in 2026, and the state has carried out more than half of U.S. executions this year, with two more Florida executions already scheduled in the coming weeks.
- Gov. Ron DeSantis withdrew a separate death warrant this week for longtime inmate William Lee Thompson and ordered psychiatric review(s), leaving Thompson on death row while questions about dementia and fitness for execution remain.
- Observers point to recent problems with lethal injections elsewhere, the state’s three‑drug protocol of sedative, paralytic and heart‑stopping drug, and 'volunteer' executions like Robertson’s as prompting renewed legal, medical and ethical scrutiny of how executions are carried out and whom they affect.