By Breitbart News Network | Created at 2026-10-13 19:22:30 | Updated at 2026-10-16 14:31:41
2 days ago
Florida Department of CorrectionsA 63-year-old prisoner is set to be executed Tuesday at Florida State Prison for killing his cellmate in 2008, which he did so that he could be sentenced to death.
James Robertson, who strangled fellow inmate Frank Hart to death, will receive a three-drug injection at the prison near Starke at noon, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
Robertson pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the case and waived his appeals.
The outlet continued:
Robertson was supposed to be one of two executions carried out by Florida on Tuesday, but Gov. Ron DeSantis withdrew a death warrant last week for William Lee Thompson. The Republican governor did not provide a reason for withdrawing Thompson’s death warrant but had temporarily stayed his execution last month pending a psychiatric evaluation.
Records show that this is the first time DeSantis has withdrawn a death warrant, which does not technically change Thompson’s sentence. He will remain on death row, and a new death warrant could be signed for him in the future.
A 77-year-old man, Curtis Wilkie Beasley, who killed a woman with a hammer, was Florida’s 16th execution in September, and Robertson will be the 17th person executed in Florida this year, per USA Today.
“Robertson was 17 years old when he went to prison in 1980 for burglary and assault. Years of convictions for escape, battery and weapons while in prison kept adding time to his total sentence. Hart was sent to prison in 2003 following a sexual battery conviction,” the AP article reads.
Robertson was a prisoner at the Charlotte Correctional Institution when he tied socks together and strangled Hart as he slept. He later explained that he killed the man so he would receive the death sentence instead of having to spend the rest of his life behind bars, court records stated.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) talked about the death penalty in 2025, saying he wanted to bring closure to the families of victims who were murdered. “There are so — some crimes that are just so horrific, the only appropriate punishment is the death penalty,” he said.
The Today report said Robertson wrote a letter in 2023 to then-Attorney General Ashley Moody asking why the process of execution was taking so much time to complete.
“On Oct. 1, during a Zoom case management conference, Robertson confirmed his wish to be executed,” the outlet stated. “‘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.'”
