DeSantis withdraws William Lee Thompson’s death warrant before Florida execution

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis withdrew William Lee Thompson’s death warrant on Thursday, October 8, calling off the 74-year-old’s lethal-injection execution scheduled for Tuesday, October 13, in Florida. The withdrawal leaves Thompson on death row and does not resolve whether the state will seek to execute him later.

The Guardian described the move as the first time DeSantis has withdrawn a death warrant in nearly eight years as governor. Thompson had been scheduled to die for the 1976 murder and kidnapping of Sally Ivester. DeSantis’s letter to the Florida State Prison warden gave no reason for withdrawing the warrant. The Guardian reported that a spokesperson for the governor had not immediately responded to an email seeking comment.

What is known about Thompson’s competency evaluation

Thompson’s lawyers challenged his competency to be executed. Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, an organization opposed to capital punishment, said he underwent an evaluation the previous week and that officials had not released its findings. The Guardian reported that DeSantis had temporarily stayed Thompson’s execution the previous month pending a psychiatric evaluation, while prison officials continued preparations for a possible execution.

Grace Hanna, the advocacy group’s executive director, said Thompson’s attorneys had described him as disoriented. According to Hanna’s account quoted by the Guardian, he did not know where he was, at times did not recognize that he had been sentenced to death, and identified ‘Bush’ as president. Those descriptions are attributed to Hanna; the evaluation findings have not been made public in the reviewed accounts.

Thompson’s attorney Bri Lacy told the Associated Press, in remarks quoted by the Guardian, that the defense was relieved. ‘Mr Thompson suffers from dementia and his health is failing – both of which were gravely concerning with an impending execution,’ she said. Lacy said she hoped the Florida Department of Corrections would move him to an adequate medical facility and provide the care he needs.

What the withdrawn warrant changes

The withdrawal stops the execution that had been scheduled for October 13. It does not remove Thompson’s death sentence: he remains on Florida’s death row, and the Guardian reported that a new warrant could be signed in the future. Neither the governor’s letter nor the publicly described evaluation establishes why DeSantis withdrew this warrant. The timing or prospect of any new warrant is unknown.

The competency dispute and medical-care concerns were active before the withdrawal. DeSantis’s earlier temporary stay was pending a psychiatric evaluation, according to the Guardian, and the advocacy group said the evaluation occurred the week before the warrant was withdrawn. Those events provide context for the decision, but the available accounts do not establish that the evaluation, the lawsuit or public advocacy caused it.

Another Florida execution remained scheduled

James Robertson’s separate execution remained scheduled for noon on October 13, according to Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty; the Guardian also reported that the second execution was still set to proceed. Robertson, 63, was sentenced for the 2008 first-degree murder of fellow inmate Frank Hart. The Guardian reported that Robertson waived his appeals and told investigators he killed Hart to be moved to death row.

Robertson’s case underscores the limited scope of the governor’s action: the reported withdrawal concerned Thompson’s warrant. The accounts reviewed for this report do not establish any later outcome for Robertson’s scheduled execution. They also do not disclose the result of Thompson’s competency evaluation or a decision about where he will receive medical care while he remains on death row.

Florida’s recent execution record

Florida carried out 19 executions in 2025, a state record since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, according to the Guardian. The state also executed two prisoners in a single day in July 2026, the Guardian reported. Thompson’s called-off execution comes against that recent record, but the governor has not publicly connected his decision to a change in Florida’s broader execution policy.

The withdrawal follows heightened attention to execution procedures after Christa Pike survived two lethal injections in Tennessee on September 30, according to the Guardian. The Guardian reported that Pike was hospitalized and that her lawyer later said she was walking but had severely injured arms. There is no stated connection in DeSantis’s letter between Pike’s case and Thompson’s withdrawn warrant.