--- title: Florida description: '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…' canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/state-by-state/florida' section: statePages date: '2017-10-12T13:52:00-04:00' updated: '2026-10-02T19:31:35-04:00' source: 'Death Penalty Information Center' --- **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](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/hurst-v-florida) in 2016, a series of decisions by the Florida Supreme Court resulted in [new sentencing hearings](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/marking-a-decade-since-hurst-v-florida) 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 1983, when Governor Bob Graham granted six between 1976 and 1983. 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. ![Total Executions in Florida Through 2025 (Line chart)](https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/0aYS4/full.png) ![Florida Death Sentences By Year (Line chart)](https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/s1ELS/full.png) - 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*](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/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](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/marking-a-decade-since-hurst-v-florida) 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** ------------- - [Florida Department of Corrections Death Row Information](http://www.dc.state.fl.us/ci/deathrow.html#General) - [American Bar Association Florida Death Penalty Assessment Report](https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/projects/death_penalty_due_process_review_project/state_death_penalty_assessments/florida.html) - [Department of Corrections](http://www.dc.state.fl.us/) - [Department of Corrections Death Row Roster](http://www.dc.state.fl.us/OffenderSearch/deathrowroster.aspx) - [Prosecutors](http://myfloridalegal.com/pages.nsf/4492d797dc0bd92f85256cb80055fb97/d243ef87774e965185256cc600785693!OpenDocument) - [Public defender's office](http://www.flpda.org/) - [Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty](https://www.fadp.org/) - [Victims' services](http://myfloridalegal.com/victims)