Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sept.1, in Tampa, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Florida executed a prisoner who said he killed his cellmate to land on death row Tuesday, the state’s first execution since Tennessee’s failed attempt to put Christa Pike to death nearly two weeks ago.
James Robertson, 63, died by lethal injection at Florida State Prison, where the state Department of Corrections said his sentence was carried out at 12:32 p.m.
He declined to give any last words before receiving Florida’s three-drug injection: a sedative, a drug that paralyzes, and a drug that stops the heart, the Associated Press reported.
Robertson pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the 2008 strangling of cellmate Frank Hart and waived his appeals, telling investigators he killed Hart so he would not have to live out his days in prison.
Prosecutors said he choked Hart with several socks tied together at Charlotte Correctional Institution.
Robertson had been locked up since 1980, when he entered prison at 17 for burglary and assault, and later convictions for escape, battery, and weapons kept adding time.
Hart was eight days from release when he died. His daughter, Rebecca Hart, told reporters at the prison that when a loved one is taken violently, “you carry your loss into every tomorrow.”
Tennessee’s Sept. 30 attempt unfolded differently.
Executioners gave Pike, 50, two doses of pentobarbital, and her attorneys said in an emergency motion that she still had a heartbeat and could be heard snoring before she was rushed to a hospital.
Pike was condemned for the 1995 torture killing of Colleen Slemmer, 19, a former classmate, in Knoxville.
Her attorneys said last week she was conscious and speaking, off a ventilator but still in intensive care.
Tennessee GOP Gov. Bill Lee ordered a comprehensive, third-party review and called off the state’s one remaining execution this year, saying “carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the state’s most serious responsibilities,” WSMV-TV reported.
Both states kill by lethal injection, but the chemistry differs.
Tennessee relies on a single drug, a 5-gram dose of pentobarbital, and may give a second dose if the prisoner has not been declared dead.
Florida’s protocol opens with the sedative etomidate, according to execution records kept by the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit tracking capital punishment.
Before Tuesday’s execution, a Florida corrections spokesman told reporters the state is “very committed to carrying that out in a humane and dignified manner,” The Washington Post reported.
Robertson’s death was Florida’s 17th execution of 2026, more than half of the 31 carried out nationwide this year.
Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis oversaw 19 executions in 2025, the most by any Florida governor in a single year since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
DeSantis, who leaves office in January, last week withdrew a death warrant for the first time, sparing for now William Lee Thompson, 74, who had been set to die alongside Robertson.
William Reaves, 77, is scheduled for execution Oct. 20, followed by Jesse Guardado, 64, on Nov. 5.
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