DeSantis Races to Clear Death Row Backlog Before Leaving Office

Florida Executes 19 in One Year

Governor Ron DeSantis calls it clearing a backlog. Critics call it an execution spree.

Either way, Florida put 19 men to death in 2025, more than any year since the state brought back capital punishment in 1976.

DeSantis signed death warrants at a pace of two per month after going three and a half years without authorizing a single execution.

With one year left in office and 251 inmates still on death row, the governor shows no signs of slowing down.

The reasons behind this surge, and the questions it raises, go far beyond simple math.

DeSantis Blames COVID for the Pause

The governor says the pandemic created an unintentional backlog he is now working to clear. From 2020 through 2022, Florida did not execute anyone as COVID-19 disrupted the prison system.

DeSantis told reporters he needed time to settle into office after his 2019 inauguration, and then the pandemic shifted priorities.

He signed just one death warrant in 2024 and six in 2023.

But in 2025, the pace exploded. DeSantis says inmates who have exhausted their appeals deserve swift justice, and victims’ families have waited long enough.

Some Cases Date Back to the 1970s

Many of the inmates executed this year committed their crimes decades ago.

Bryan Jennings spent 45 years on death row before his November execution for the 1979 kidnapping, rape, and murder of a six-year-old girl.

Richard Randolph was convicted in 1988. Frank Walls killed two people in 1987. DeSantis frames these long waits as proof the system moves too slowly.

He believes the death penalty could deter crime if sentences were carried out faster, and he says he owes it to victims’ families to finally deliver the justice they were promised.

Florida Now Leads the Nation in Executions

No other state came close to Florida’s numbers in 2025. The 19 executions account for roughly 40% of all people put to death in America this year.

Alabama, Texas, and South Carolina tied for second with five executions each. Nationwide, 47 people were executed, the highest total in over 15 years.

The Death Penalty Information Center says Florida alone is responsible for pushing national numbers to levels not seen since 2010.

Back then, Texas led with 17 executions while Florida carried out just one.

Critics Say Politics Drives the Pace

Not everyone buys the backlog explanation.

Democratic lawmakers and death penalty opponents suggest the timing connects to DeSantis’s political ambitions. The governor ran for president in 2023 and remains a prominent figure in Republican politics.

House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell called the surge an attempt to impress Republican primary voters and burnish tough-on-crime credentials.

DeSantis dismisses such criticism, saying he views capital punishment as appropriate for the worst offenders and that families of murder victims deserve closure.

2023 Law Made Death Sentences Easier

Florida lowered its standard for death sentences just as DeSantis began accelerating executions.

A 2023 law allows juries to recommend death with an 8-4 vote, ending a brief requirement for unanimous agreement.

Lawmakers passed the change after the Parkland school shooter received life in prison because three jurors voted against execution. Florida now has the lowest threshold in the nation.

Alabama is the only other state allowing non-unanimous recommendations, and it requires 10-2. The Florida Supreme Court upheld the 8-4 law just last week.

30 Death Row Inmates Were Later Proven Innocent

Florida leads the country in wrongful death row convictions. Since 1973, 30 people sentenced to die in Florida have been exonerated and released.

That works out to roughly one innocent person freed for every three people executed. Some spent decades behind bars before evidence cleared them.

Clifford Williams lost 43 years to a wrongful conviction before his 2019 exoneration.

Critics worry that rushing through a backlog increases the risk of executing someone who does not belong there.

Longest-Serving Inmate Says DNA Proves Innocence

Tommy Zeigler has waited nearly 50 years on death row, longer than anyone in Florida history.

Convicted in 1976 for killing his wife, her parents, and a customer at his Winter Garden furniture store, the now 80-year-old returned to court this month claiming new DNA evidence proves his innocence.

His attorneys say testing showed no blood from the victims on his clothing.

Zeigler, in failing health and using a wheelchair with an oxygen tank, represents exactly the kind of case critics fear could slip through a rushed system.

Inmates with Disabilities Were Executed

Federal law prohibits executing people with intellectual disabilities, but at least two Florida inmates with documented impairments died in 2025.

David Pittman had consistently low IQ scores and trouble reading basic words. His attorneys said he never received a proper hearing on his disability claims.

Victor Tony Jones also raised intellectual disability arguments before his fall execution.

The Florida Supreme Court ruled that protections do not apply retroactively to older sentences, clearing the way for both men to die.

Seven Military Veterans Got Death Warrants

Veterans account for about 12% of Florida’s death row but received nearly 40% of the death warrants DeSantis signed this year.

Jeffrey Hutchinson, an Army Ranger with Gulf War illness and PTSD, was executed in May despite pleas from veteran advocacy groups.

DeSantis, himself a Navy veteran who served as a legal adviser to SEAL Team One in Iraq, granted no clemency.

The War Horse reported that the executed veterans traveled what it called the battlefield-to-prison pipeline, their military trauma largely ignored at sentencing.

Catholic Bishops Break with DeSantis

The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops opposes every death warrant DeSantis signs.

Their letters acknowledge the crimes while asking the governor to consider childhood trauma, mental illness, and church teaching that every life is sacred.

The bishops usually support DeSantis on issues like abortion and marijuana restrictions, but capital punishment has put them at odds.

Executive Director Michael Sheedy says the governor is out of step on this issue. So far, the letters have changed nothing.

DeSantis Will Leave as Deadliest Governor

With 28 executions during his tenure and one year remaining, DeSantis will exit office having sent more people to Florida’s death chamber than any governor in the modern era.

He defends every execution as justice delayed finally delivered. Before 2025, he had signed just nine death warrants across his first six years.

The backlog he describes still holds 251 names. Whether clearing it represents justice or something else depends on who you ask.

But the pace DeSantis set this year left no doubt about his answer.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• Tennessee Performs Its Third Execution for 2025
• Florida Just Approved the Biggest Electric Rate Hike in U.S. History
• 11 New Jersey Facts So Rare Most Locals Will Swear You Made Them Up