Florida

Governor Ron DeSantis, Republican

Overview

Florida was the first state to rein­state the death penal­ty after Furman v. Georgia, the 1972 Supreme Court rul­ing which inval­i­dat­ed 40 state death penal­ty statutes. Florida was also the first state to car­ry out a non-vol­un­tary exe­cu­tion post-Furman, with the 1979 exe­cu­tion of John Spenkelink. Since then, Florida has car­ried out more than 120 exe­cu­tions, putting it, along with Texas and Oklahoma, in the top three high­est exe­cut­ing states in the mod­ern death penal­ty era. In 2025, the state exe­cut­ed 19 indi­vid­u­als, more than twice the num­ber of exe­cu­tions in the next high­est year, (8 in 2018). 

Florida is one of two states that still allow non-unan­i­mous jury ver­dicts. State law requires only 8 of 12 jurors agree to impose a sen­tence of death. After Florida’s death penal­ty statute came under pres­sure in 2016, a series of deci­sions by the Florida Supreme Court result­ed in new sen­tenc­ing hear­ings for 145 of the 386 pris­on­ers then on death row, the major­i­ty of which have end­ed in life sen­tences, as of the end of 2025. 

No Florida gov­er­nor has grant­ed clemen­cy to a death row pris­on­er since 1976, when Governor Bob Graham granted six. 

Quick Facts

Yes
258
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347
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30

State-by-State Issues in Context

19 The num­ber of exe­cu­tions car­ried out by Florida in 2025, more than dou­ble its pre­vi­ous record high.
30 The total num­ber of exon­er­a­tions from death row in Florida, as of 2025, more than any other state.
57 The per­cent­age of cap­i­tal juries in Florida in 2025 that decid­ed against a death sentence.
37 The per­cent­age of indi­vid­u­als sen­tenced to death in Florida who are Black.
  • Overview
  • 1827
  • 1923
  • 1972
  • 1976
  • 1979
  • 1990s
  • 2016
  • 2017
  • 2020
  • 2022
  • April 2023
  • May 2023
  • May 2025
  • 2025
Florida’s Death Penalty Timeline
Overview
View Florida’s long and con­tro­ver­sial his­to­ry with the death penalty.

This time­line details some of its most con­se­quen­tial moments. Swipe to learn more.

Florida’s Death Penalty Timeline
1827

Florida hangs Benjamin Donica for mur­der, Florida’s first known execution.

Florida’s Death Penalty Timeline
1923

Florida sub­sti­tutes hang­ing with the electric chair.

Florida’s Death Penalty Timeline
1972

The Supreme Court strikes down the death penal­ty in Furman v. Georgia. Florida pass­es a new cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment statute that same year.

Florida’s Death Penalty Timeline
1976

The Supreme Court reau­tho­rizes use of the death penal­ty when it upholds Georgia’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment statute in Gregg v. Georgia. In Proffitt v. Florida, the Court also upholds Florida’s cap­i­tal punishment statute.

Florida’s Death Penalty Timeline
1979

Florida is the first state to car­ry out a non-vol­un­tary exe­cu­tion post-Gregg v. Georgia when it exe­cutes John Spenkelink by electric chair.

Florida’s Death Penalty Timeline
1990s

Florida botch­es the elec­tric chair exe­cu­tions of Jesse Tafero, Pedro Medina, and Allen Lee Davis. Death-sen­tenced pris­on­ers peti­tion the Supreme Court to rule on the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the elec­tric chair as an exe­cu­tion method, but the Court declines to address the ques­tion. Florida changes its method of exe­cu­tion to lethal injection.

Florida’s Death Penalty Timeline
2016

In Hurst v. Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court finds that Florida’s death sen­tenc­ing scheme vio­lates the Sixth Amendment. The Court ruled that under the Sixth Amendment a jury, not a judge, must make the fac­tu­al find­ings nec­es­sary to impose a death sen­tence. Florida sub­se­quent­ly abol­ish­es judi­cial over­ride, a process by which a tri­al judge was per­mit­ted to impose a death sen­tence despite a jury rec­om­men­da­tion for life. Many death-sen­tenced pris­on­ers were resen­tenced as a result of this decision. 

Florida’s Death Penalty Timeline
2017

In response to Hurst v. Florida, Florida pass­es a new death penal­ty statute, SB 280, that requires a unan­i­mous jury rec­om­men­da­tion to impose a death sentence.

Florida’s Death Penalty Timeline
2020

In Lawrence v. State (2020), the Florida Supreme Court revers­es a long-held prece­dent requir­ing cap­i­tal appeals to be reviewed for pro­por­tion­al­i­ty. In Gregg v Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court pre­vi­ous­ly held that manda­to­ry pro­por­tion­al­i­ty review by state courts ensured that death sen­tences were not exces­sive, arbi­trary, or dis­pro­por­tion­ate to similar cases.

Florida’s Death Penalty Timeline
2022

Governor Ron DeSantis signs HB 873, a bill that exempts the Florida Department of Corrections from hav­ing to dis­close to the pub­lic the com­pa­nies that pro­vide lethal injec­tion drugs or the iden­ti­ties of the peo­ple who admin­is­ter the drugs dur­ing the execution.

Florida’s Death Penalty Timeline
April 2023

Governor Ron DeSantis signs SB 450, elim­i­nat­ing the require­ment for a unan­i­mous jury rec­om­men­da­tion for a sen­tence of death. The new law states that only 8 jurors must agree to impose a death sen­tence, the low­est jury thresh­old of all states that retain the death penalty. 

Florida’s Death Penalty Timeline
May 2023

Governor Ron DeSantis signs HB 1297, expand­ing death penal­ty eli­gi­bil­i­ty in cas­es of sex­u­al bat­tery of a minor under the age of 12. The leg­is­la­tion vio­lates the U.S. Supreme Court’s deci­sion in Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008), where the Court held that impos­ing a sen­tence of death for the rape of a child who is not killed vio­lates the 8th Amendment.

Florida’s Death Penalty Timeline
May 2025

Governor Ron DeSantis signs HB 903, expand­ing exe­cu­tion meth­ods beyond elec­tro­cu­tion and lethal injec­tion to include any method ​“not deemed unconstitutional.” 

Florida’s Death Penalty Timeline
2025

Florida con­ducts 19 exe­cu­tions in one year, break­ing its pre­vi­ous mod­ern record (8 in 2018). 

  • Overview
  • David Keaton
  • Frank Lee Smith
  • Joseph Green Brown
  • Clemente Javier Aguirre
  • Clifford Williams, Jr.
  • Juan Ramos
Notable Exonerations
Overview

As of 2025, 30 wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed indi­vid­u­als have been exon­er­at­ed in Florida, the high­est num­ber of any state. Swipe to learn more about the most notable of these cases.

Notable Exonerations
David Keaton

The first exon­er­a­tion in the United States after Furman v. Georgia occurred in Florida in 1973. David Keaton was arrest­ed for the mur­der of an off-duty deputy sher­iff dur­ing a rob­bery. After three days of inter­ro­ga­tion and phys­i­cal abuse, the police coerced Mr. Keaton to false­ly con­fess, and he was sub­se­quent­ly sen­tenced to death by an all-white jury. The Florida Supreme Court reversed the con­vic­tion and grant­ed Mr. Keaton a new tri­al because of new­ly dis­cov­ered evi­dence. After oth­er defen­dants were con­vict­ed of the crime, the charges against Mr. Keaton were dropped. In total, he spent two years on death row for a crime he did not commit. 

Notable Exonerations
Frank Lee Smith

Frank Lee Smith spent 15 years on death row before he died of can­cer in 2000. Just months after Mr. Smith’s death, DNA test­ing cleared him of the crime for which he had been con­vict­ed in 1985. The sole wit­ness in the case had recant­ed her tes­ti­mo­ny in 1989. Another per­son was lat­er impli­cat­ed in the crime fol­l­low­ing DNA testing. 

Notable Exonerations
Joseph Green Brown

Joseph Green Brown was sen­tenced to death in 1974 for the mur­der of Earlene Treva Barksdale. The case hinged on the tes­ti­mo­ny of Ronald Floyd, who lat­er admit­ted he had lied. Jurors nev­er heard tes­ti­mo­ny from an FBI bal­lis­tics expert who said a gun linked to Mr. Brown could not have fired the bul­let that killed Mr. Barksdale. In 1983, Mr. Brown came with­in 15 hours of exe­cu­tion before a Florida judge issued a stay, but wait­ed two and a half more years before his con­vic­tion was over­turned, and an addi­tion­al year before charges were dropped. 

Notable Exonerations
Clemente Javier Aguirre

Clemente Javier Aguirre was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 2006 for the mur­der of two neigh­bors. He stead­fast­ly main­tained his inno­cence, say­ing that he had dis­cov­ered his neigh­bors after they had been killed, but was afraid to report the mur­ders to the police because he was an undoc­u­ment­ed immi­grant. With new­ly dis­cov­ered con­fes­sions and DNA evi­dence point­ing to the Seminole County pros­e­cu­tor’s chief wit­ness as the actu­al killer, the Florida Supreme Court vacat­ed Mr. Aguirre’s con­vic­tion and grant­ed him a new tri­al. In 2019, the pros­e­cu­tion dropped all charges against him. 

Notable Exonerations
Clifford Williams, Jr.

Clifford Williams, Jr. was exon­er­at­ed in 2019, forty-two years after he and his nephew were wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed of mur­der and he was sen­tenced to death. Submitting a report from its Conviction Integrity Unit that found ​“no cred­i­ble evi­dence of guilt and … cred­i­ble evi­dence of inno­cence,” Duval County pros­e­cu­tors asked a Jacksonville tri­al court to dis­miss all charges against Mr. Williams, then 76 years old, and his nephew, Nathan Myers, 61. 

Notable Exonerations
Juan Ramos

In 1982, Juan Ramos was con­vict­ed of the mur­der of an acquain­tance. No phys­i­cal evi­dence linked Mr. Ramos to the crime, but lat­er-dis­cred­it­ed evi­dence from a scent-track­ing dog con­vinced the jury to con­vict him. A judge over­ruled the jury’s rec­om­men­da­tion for a life sen­tence and sen­tenced Mr. Ramos to death. In 1985, the tele­vi­sion news show 20/​20 exposed the unre­li­a­bil­i­ty of scent-track­ing evi­dence. The fol­low­ing year, the Florida Supreme Court over­turned Mr. Ramos’ con­vic­tion, say­ing that canine scent-track­ing was com­plete­ly untest­ed. At a retri­al in 1987, Mr. Ramos was acquitted. 

  • Overview
  • Enmund v. Florida (1982)
  • Hitchcock v. Dugger (1987)
  • Holland v. Florida (2010)
  • Hall v. Florida (2014)
  • Hurst v. Florida (2016)
Supreme Court Rulings on Florida’s Death Penalty
Overview

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled Florida’s death penal­ty prac­tices uncon­sti­tu­tion­al numer­ous times. This series details some of the most notable cases.

Supreme Court Rulings on Florida’s Death Penalty
Enmund v. Florida (1982)

In Enmund v. Florida (1982), the Court ruled that the Florida death penal­ty statute vio­lat­ed the Eighth Amendment when it was applied to defen­dants who were minor par­tic­i­pants in a crime that result­ed in a mur­der, and who did not them­selves kill, attempt to kill, or intend to kill the victim. 

Supreme Court Rulings on Florida’s Death Penalty
Hitchcock v. Dugger (1987)

In Hitchcock v. Dugger (1987), the Court – in a unan­i­mous opin­ion writ­ten by Justice Antonin Scalia – ruled Florida’s death penal­ty statute uncon­sti­tu­tion­al because it instruct­ed the advi­so­ry jury and sen­tenc­ing judge to only con­sid­er mit­i­gat­ing cir­cum­stances specif­i­cal­ly stat­ed in the statute. The Court held this instruc­tion vio­lat­ed the Eighth Amendment’s require­ment to con­sid­er all rea­sons to spare the defendant’s life. 

Supreme Court Rulings on Florida’s Death Penalty
Holland v. Florida (2010)

In Holland v. Florida (2010), the Court over­ruled Florida’s denial of Albert Holland’s habeas peti­tion as untime­ly under AEDPA’s one-year statute of lim­i­ta­tions, find­ing a rea­son for equi­table tolling of the time lim­it if extra­or­di­nary cir­cum­stances exist. In this case, those cir­cum­stances includ­ed, the ​“gross neg­li­gence” (aban­don­ment) of defense coun­sel. Albert Holland’s legal coun­sel failed to com­mu­ni­cate with him about his case and then failed to time­ly file his fed­er­al habeas cor­pus peti­tion despite Mr. Holland numer­ous requests for him to do, forc­ing Mr. Holland to file his own peti­tion after the deadline elapsed. 

Supreme Court Rulings on Florida’s Death Penalty
Hall v. Florida (2014)

In Hall v. Florida (2014), the Court ruled that Florida uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­ly impaired the enforce­ment of the pro­hi­bi­tion against sub­ject­ing per­sons with an intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty to the death penal­ty. The Court held that by apply­ing a hard IQ-cut­off score of 70, Florida allowed for intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled peo­ple to be sen­tenced to death, in vio­la­tion of the Eighth Amendment.

Supreme Court Rulings on Florida’s Death Penalty
Hurst v. Florida (2016)

In Hurst v. Florida (2016), the Court ruled that Florida’s cap­i­tal sen­tenc­ing statute vio­lat­ed the Sixth Amendment right to a jury tri­al because it required that a judge, rather than a jury, make find­ings of fact as to whether the pros­e­cu­tion had proven that a defen­dant is eli­gi­ble for a death sentence.

Resources

News & Developments

Innocence April 3, 2026 James Duckett’s Warrant Will Expire Without His Execution as Florida Supreme Court Issues New Briefing on Request to Analyze DNA Evidence Costs March 9, 2026 What to Know: Costs and the Death Penalty Executions March 3, 2026 Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor Calls Secrecy Around Florida’s Recent Spate of Executions “Troubling” Upcoming Executions February 24, 2026 Scheduled Execution of Billy Kearse Renews Constitutional Alarms About Pace of Executions in Florida Official Misconduct January 30, 2026 DPI Podcast 12:01 The Death Penalty in Context: Fair and Just Prosecution’s Aramis Ayala on the Death Penalty, Prosecutorial Discretion, and Conviction Integrity United States Supreme Court January 12, 2026 Marking a Decade Since Hurst v. Florida Executions January 7, 2026 New Report Examines Florida’s Unprecedented Execution Pace and Trends in 2025 Execution Volunteers November 24, 2025 18th Florida Death Row Prisoner Set for Execution in 2025 Waives Appeals, Fifth Volunteer of 2025
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Learn more about the Death Penalty in each state