Florida Execution Halted as DeSantis Withdraws Death Warrant

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has withdrawn a death warrant for the first time since taking office, calling off the execution of William Lee Thompson, who was scheduled to die by lethal injection next Tuesday.

DeSantis signed a letter Thursday withdrawing the warrant for Thompson, 74, who was convicted of murder and kidnapping in 1976. The governor did not provide a specific reason for the withdrawal in his letter, but he had previously stayed Thompson's execution last month pending a psychiatric evaluation.

Thompson's attorney, Bri Lacy, expressed relief, stating that Thompson suffers from dementia and has failing health. "Now that Mr. Thompson is no longer under a death warrant, we hope FDOC (Florida Department of Corrections) will relocate him to an adequate medical facility and provide the care he needs," Lacy said in an email.

Thompson will remain on Florida's death row, and a new death warrant could be signed in the future. Thompson's case occurred as the death penalty has drawn escalating national attention. Last week, in Tennessee, Christa Pike survived an execution attempt after receiving two lethal doses of pentobarbital. The Pentagon also announced this week that the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan would be livestreamed.

Meanwhile, a second Florida execution scheduled for the same day as Thompson's is still set to proceed. James Robertson, 63, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and waived all appeals in the 2008 strangling of his cellmate, Frank Hart, at Charlotte Correctional Institution. Robertson told investigators he killed Hart to be moved to death row.

Florida carried out a record 19 executions last year, the highest number in the state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. In July, Florida became the first state in nearly a decade to execute two prisoners in one day.