In 10 days, Bryan Jennings, who was convicted of raping and murdering a six-year-old girl in 1979, is set to be put to death.

It would mark the 16th execution carried out in Florida this year, doubling the previous single-year record set in 2014 and 1984.

Action News Jax asked Governor Ron DeSantis about the surge on Monday morning.

He attributed it, in part, to the lack of executions during COVID.

Florida carried out no executions in 2020, 2021, or 2022.

“I know we had some interruptions, but it wasn’t intentional. As a new Governor, you want to come in and get it right, and then a year into my tenure, we had COVID. That just, it changed how we were kind of managing the corrections a little bit, and there were just things that were going on. But I think we’re in a good spot now,” DeSantis said.

But Grace Hanna, with Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, argued the Governor’s explanation doesn’t fully track.

She noted six executions were carried out in 2023, and the number dropped to only one in 2024.

“I do think that nationally there was a reduction in executions during COVID, but in Florida, the state was reopened far before February of 2023,” Hanna said. ”And so, that as a reason I’m not sure stands fully on its own.”

Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell (D-Tampa) also expressed concern about the record-setting pace of executions.

She noted Florida leads the nation with 30 death row exonerations, two of which happened during DeSantis’ tenure.

“I worry about speeding it up. I worry about those convictions that may not actually be right, that might not actually be just. But, to me, this is an opportunity that Ron DeSantis is using to appear tough on crime,” Driskell said.

But the Governor argued these decisions are not made lightly, and oftentimes it’s the victims’ families who ask for the death sentence to be carried out.

“Sometimes they’ll come to the office after and you can just see, after decades, the weight that’s kind of been lifted because, you know, they never fully had closure and these are really horrific crimes,” DeSantis said.

And while Hanna said she believes that’s true in some cases, there have been notable executions this year where victims’ families have publicly opposed the execution of their loved ones’ killers.

“And those pleas have fallen on deaf ears from the Governor,” Hanna said.

There are at least two more executions scheduled this year in Florida.

Both are set to be carried out in November.

That would bring the total for the year to 17.

It’s unclear whether additional executions will be scheduled in December.

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