Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis abruptly pulled the plug on an execution order for 74‑year‑old death row inmate William Lee Thompson, canceling the lethal injection just days before it was set to happen.
In a letter to Florida State Prison Warden Randall Polk, DeSantis withdrew the death warrant he signed on Sept. 11. The execution had been slated for Tuesday, Oct. 13. He offered no public explanation, and the decision arrived only hours after the Florida Supreme Court denied an emergency stay requested by Thompson’s lawyers.
This move marks a rare footnote in Florida’s modern legal history. While state or federal courts sometimes grant stays to review constitutional challenges, a sitting Florida governor directly rescinding a signed death warrant is virtually unheard of in recent administrations.
During his time in office, DeSantis has run an active death chamber and rarely interfered once a warrant was issued. Thompson’s case has survived decades of legal twists; governors signed death warrants for him in 1982 and 1987, only for the courts to halt those dates and order resentencing hearings.
Now, the executive branch itself stopped the clock.
Thompson was originally sentenced for his role in the 1976 murder of 23‑year‑old Sally Ivester in Miami‑Dade County. His co‑defendant, Rocco Surace, received a life sentence and died behind bars in 1993. Although Thompson’s initial death sentence was vacated, a jury voted 7‑5 for capital punishment during a 1989 resentencing trial.
Advocates argue that Thompson’s physical and mental condition has deteriorated beyond comprehension after half a century on death row. Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty says Thompson “has an intellectual disability and was described by people who knew him as easily manipulated and dominated by Surace.”
The group also notes that Thompson is “gravely ill, has dementia, and requires complete assistance with basic activities such as bathing, using the toilet, and moving between his bed and wheelchair.” They list severe health problems, including congestive heart failure, advanced liver and kidney disease, lung blood clots, pneumonia, broken ribs, malnutrition, and a stage‑four pressure sore.
Following defense claims of severe cognitive impairment, DeSantis created a three‑psychiatrist panel under Executive Order 26‑192 to determine whether Thompson was legally insane.
In that order, DeSantis pointed out that defense counsel had hired a neuropsychologist who “opined that Mr. Thompson meets the criteria for insanity due to his dementia and significant cognitive decline as Mr. Thompson lacks the mental capacity to understand the fact of his impending execution and the reason for it.”
Thompson’s attorney, Bri Lacy, welcomed the decision and urged the state to move him to a suitable hospital.
“Mr. Thompson suffers from dementia and his health is failing , both of which were gravely concerning with an impending execution,” Lacy said. “Now that Mr. Thompson is no longer under a death warrant, we hope FDOC will relocate him to an adequate medical facility and provide the care he needs.”
Florida still intends to carry out an execution on Oct. 13. James Robertson, 63, remains scheduled for death for the 2008 murder of his prison cellmate, Frank Hart, at Charlotte Correctional Institution.
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