James Robertson, 63, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Oct. 13 for the 2008 murder of his cellmate. Courtesy: Florida Department of Corrections.
STARKE, Fla. - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a record-tying 19th death warrant Thursday, setting an Oct. 13 execution date for an inmate who murdered his cellmate to escape long-term maximum-security conditions.
Florida death warrant signed
What we know:
James "Chicken Head" Robertson, 63, is set to die by lethal injection at noon on Oct. 13 at Florida State Prison in Starke. Robertson was sentenced to death on Dec. 18, 2012, after pleading guilty to the 2008 garrote strangulation murder of his cellmate, Frank Hart, at Charlotte Correctional Institution.
Attorney General James Uthmeier noted that Robertson admitted to killing Hart without provocation specifically to receive a death sentence. Robertson previously shared in a 2018 Netflix series that he carried out the crime to escape solitary-like conditions at his previous prison and access better jailhouse conditions on death row.
Dual execution schedule set
Timeline:
Robertson will be the first of two inmates executed on Oct. 13 in Starke. At 6 p.m. that same day, the state is scheduled to execute 74-year-old William Lee Thompson for the 1976 murder, kidnapping, and sexual battery of Sally Ivester in North Miami Beach.
The state previously executed two inmates on the same day on July 28, when Dominick Anthony Occhicone was executed roughly five hours after James Aren Duckett. Another inmate, 77-year-old William Reaves, is scheduled for execution on Oct. 20 for the 1986 killing of Indian River County Sheriff's Deputy Richard Raczkowski.
Florida Supreme Court ruling
The backstory:
Robertson had been in and out of prison since 1980 following burglary and assault charges in Orange County. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed his conviction and death sentence in 2016.
In 2014, the state Supreme Court ordered Robertson's public defender to stay on the direct-appeal process. The defender had argued that Florida Bar rules required him to adhere to Robertson's wish to accept the death penalty.
Death penalty response
The other side:
Advocacy group Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty described same-day executions as an "unprecedented escalation" of Florida's death penalty use. Last year, Florida executed 19 inmates, marking the state's highest single-year execution total since the U.S. Supreme Court ended a national pause on capital punishment in 1976.
Unanswered execution questions
What we don't know:
Officials have not publicly disclosed whether Robertson will pursue any last-minute legal appeals before Oct. 13.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from a official letter by Attorney General James Uthmeier, as well as state court records and statements from Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.