Florida executed a prisoner by lethal injection Tuesday, nearly two weeks after Tennessee’s botched attempt to kill Christa Pike using the same method.
James Robertson, 63, was executed at Florida State Prison in north Florida for the 2008 murder of his cellmate Frank Hart, whom he said he killed so that he could be sentenced to death rather than spend the rest of his life behind bars. He was pronounced dead at 12:32 p.m., according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
Before the execution, a department spokesman defended Florida’s lethal-injection protocol, which uses three drugs: a sedative, a drug that causes paralysis and a drug that stops the heart. “We are very committed to carrying that out in a humane and dignified manner,” the spokesman said.
Robertson had spent nearly three decades in prison for burglary, assault and other crimes when he killed Hart. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and later waived further appeals.
His execution was Florida’s 17th this year under Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
It came less than two weeks after Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital during the Sept. 30 execution attempt. Pike was hospitalized. Tennessee has since halted all executions, pending a review.
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