MIAMI — A Florida prisoner who said he killed his cellmate so he would be sent to death row was scheduled to be executed Tuesday, nearly 18 years after the attack, The Associated Press reported.
James Robertson, 63, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the 2008 strangling of Frank Hart and waived all appeals. He was set to receive a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke.
According to court records cited by the AP, Robertson was being held at Charlotte Correctional Institution, north of Fort Myers, in December 2008 when he tied several socks together and strangled Hart as he slept. Robertson told investigators the attack was unprovoked and that he did it so he would be sentenced to death rather than spend the rest of his life in prison.
Robertson went to prison at 17 in 1980 for burglary. After pleading guilty to Hart’s murder, he waived a penalty-phase jury, was sentenced to death by a judge, and later gave up all post-conviction proceedings. At a hearing earlier this month he told a judge he did not want to make any final appeals.
Florida had planned two executions for Tuesday, but Gov. Ron DeSantis withdrew the death warrant for William Lee Thompson last week without giving a reason. Records show it was the first time DeSantis had withdrawn a death warrant. Thompson remains on death row.
The execution comes amid heightened national attention on the death penalty. In Tennessee, Christa Pike survived an execution attempt two weeks earlier, and the Pentagon announced that the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan would be livestreamed.
Sources: KTAR News/AP. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. U / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
