Ron McAndrew, the former warden of Florida State Prison, has become a vocal opponent of capital punishment after witnessing the horrific execution of Pedro Medina in 1997. Medina's death in the state's electric chair, nicknamed 'Old Sparky,' was marred by a malfunction that caused his body to catch fire, a spectacle McAndrew described as burning him alive.
The execution, which took place on March 27, 1997, involved the application of 2,000 volts of electricity to Medina. According to McAndrew, blue and orange flames up to a foot long erupted from the side of Medina's head and blazed for several seconds, filling the chamber with acrid smoke. Medina, who had maintained his innocence, took four agonizing minutes to die.
"It was obvious he was still alive when his head was on fire," McAndrew recalled. "It was a horrible way to kill somebody."
McAndrew, now 87, shared these details in an effort to highlight the brutality he believes capital punishment entails. He described the stench of charred flesh that lingered for weeks after Medina's death, requiring the entire execution chamber, including the chair itself, to be scrubbed.
He speculated that the malfunction might have been exacerbated by a dry saline sponge, which is typically used to conduct electricity to the inmate's head. McAndrew recalled observing an electrician preparing the sponge in a manner that suggested it was not sufficiently moist, and a brief exchange with another electrician about its readiness.
Medina, a Cuban-born man, was convicted of murdering his neighbor, Dorothy James, a schoolteacher, in 1982. He stabbed her multiple times and stole her car.
'Old Sparky,' the electric chair used in Medina's execution, had been in use since 1923 and had previously carried out 239 executions, including that of serial killer Ted Bundy. Medina's death marked its final use. Florida outlawed the electric chair two years later, transitioning to lethal injections for subsequent executions.
McAndrew's stance on the death penalty shifted dramatically over his career. Initially a supporter, having lost family members to murder, he oversaw eight executions in total, three of which were by electric chair in Florida. After Medina's execution, he was sent to Texas to learn lethal injection protocols.
He described the psychological toll that participating in executions takes on prison staff, noting the familiarity that can develop between staff and inmates over years of supervision. "It is not like being in a foxhole and firing at an enemy that is trying to kill you," McAndrew stated. "You had them under your supervision for many years, you get to know them, and then suddenly because the governor wants to be in the newspaper, he signs a death warrant."
He concluded that life imprisonment is a more severe punishment, and described executions as "premeditated, ceremonial, political killing."
McAndrew's renewed public commentary on the death penalty comes at a time when Florida, under Governor Ron DeSantis, has seen a significant increase in executions. DeSantis signed death warrants for 19 inmates in 2025, accounting for 40 percent of all U.S. executions that year. This includes the case of Ronald Heath, whose execution was reportedly expedited after his victim's family sent the governor custom blue Sharpies, the type DeSantis uses for official orders.
Nationally, the death penalty remains legal in 27 states, though eight have moratoriums in place. A 2025 Gallup poll indicated that 52 percent of Americans support capital punishment, a decrease from previous years, with a notable partisan divide.