Florida is set to execute James Robertson at noon today. It will be the state's 17th scheduled execution of the year.
For Robertson, 63, it couldn't come soon enough. Robertson killed his cellmate, Frank Hart, in 2008, specifically to get on death row after being in prison since he was 17. He waived all chances of appeal, and in 2023, Robertson wrote a letter to then-Attorney General Ashley Moody asking why his execution was taking so long.
Inmates seeking the death penalty is not uncommon, the anti-death penalty advocacy group Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty said, and it raises "deeply troubling questions about isolation, despair, and the use of execution as a means of escaping incarceration."
Such a desired "homicide as suicide"
also points to the ineffectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent, the group said.
It will be a rare noon execution. Gov. Ron DeSantis issued Robertson's death warrant less than two weeks ago, and Robertson was scheduled to be executed on a day when another man was already planned for the afternoon.
This would have been the second double execution this year, a once-common practice Florida has not done since 1962, but DeSantis last week withdrew the death warrant for the other man scheduled to be put to death Tuesday. William Lee Thompson, convicted of the 1976 kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder of 23-year-old Sally Ivester, escaped death after a mandatory psychiatric evaluation concerning his dementia.
Robertson's execution is the latest in DeSantis' historic and dramatic increase in death warrants since February 2025. In comparison, there have been 14 executions this year in all the other U.S. states combined, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Florida already has two more executions scheduled for Oct. 20 and Nov. 5, with months left to go in the year.
When is James Robertson scheduled to be executed?
Robertson is slated to be put to death at noon on Oct. 13, 2026, at Florida State Prison in Raiford, about 45 miles southwest of Jacksonville.
Who is James Robertson?
After nearly 30 years in prison for various burglary and assault charges across Orange, Dixie, Bradford, and Charlotte counties, and an attempted murder conviction in 1997, Robertson said he was tired of his situation and decided to get on death row by killing his cellmate, Frank Hart, at Charlotte Correctional Institution, court records show.
On Dec. 10, 2008, Robertson strangled Hart with a pair of socks tied together. He was charged with second-degree murder and offered a life sentence, according to court records, but he demanded first-degree murder charges and stabbed a prison guard in 2011.
Robertson waived his jury penalty phase, and in 2012, he was finally sentenced to death.
Capital convictions in Florida mandate an automatic direct appeal. In 2014, Robertson's lawyer tried to withdraw from representing a client who didn't want to appeal a sentence he fought hard to avoid. The Florida Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to force him to stay on.
After his death sentence was affirmed, Robertson waived his right to any more postconviction proceedings and fired his lawyer. There have been no appeals filed since.
On Oct. 1, during a Zoom case management conference, Robertson confirmed his wish to be executed.
"Because I was found guilty," he said. "You know, I chose the death penalty over the life sentence, and I just, you know, want the sentence to be carried out."
Florida to match 2025 record of executions
DeSantis is on track to match the record-shattering 19 death warrants he issued in 2025. The previous record for one year in Florida was eight.
William Reaves Jr., convicted of the 1986 murder of Indian River County sheriff's deputy Richard Raczkoski, is scheduled to be put to death on Oct. 20.
Jesse Guardado, sentenced to death for the 2004 stabbing and beating death of 75-year-old community activist Jackie Malone, would have been the 20th execution of the year if Thompson's death warrant hadn't been withdrawn. His execution is scheduled for Nov. 5.
C. A. Bridges is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida's service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: James Robertson to become 17th Florida execution in 2026
