Florida set for fifth 2025 execution amid controversial death penalty expansion
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Florida State Prison in Raiford, where death row is housed. Photo: Matt McClain/ The Washington Post via Getty Images
The state is set to execute Glen Rogers on Thursday night, three decades after he stabbed to death Tina Marie Gibbs, a 34-year-old mother of two, in an East Tampa motel room.
Why it matters: Barring a last-minute delay, he'll become the fifth person killed by the state this year.
- And a sixth execution, scheduled for June, puts Gov. Ron DeSantis on track to order the same number of executions in six months as the entirety of 2023 — a record year for capital punishment in Florida.
The big picture: This year's surge of executions comes amid what critics contend is an unconstitutional expansion of Florida's death penalty by DeSantis and state lawmakers.
State of play: Awaiting DeSantis' signature is a bill passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature that would make certain sex trafficking offenses capital crimes.
- DeSantis in February signed into law another bill that mandates the death penalty for undocumented immigrants convicted of capital crimes.
- And in 2023, DeSantis signed laws that make certain child rape cases eligible for the death penalty and allow non-unanimous juries to recommend death sentences.
Reality check: Several of those laws violate long-standing U.S. Supreme Court precedent, experts say.
- In Kennedy v. Louisiana, justices ruled the ultimate punishment "should not be expanded to instances where the victim's life was not taken."
- In Woodson v. North Carolina, the highest court determined that mandatory death sentences are unconstitutional.
Between the lines: The question of juror unanimity in death sentences has been litigated repeatedly in Florida, also opening up that law to potential constitutional challenges.
- As it stands now, the 8-4 juror threshold is the lowest standard anywhere in the country. Only one other state doesn't require a unanimous recommendation: Alabama, where the threshold is 10-2.
Threat level: More death sentences mean more room for error in a state that has the highest number of death row exonerations in the country, per the Death Penalty Information Center.
- Among them: Robert DuBoise, who was freed from prison after 37 years, thanks in large part to Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren, whom DeSantis later removed from office.
What they're saying: Such a haphazard expansion of capital punishment doesn't benefit victims, either, said Maria DeLiberato, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
- "That invites litigation and challenge and uncertainty," she said. "You're putting victims through this process that is more uncertain."
The other side: DeSantis' office did not respond to questions from Axios about his approach to the death penalty and this year's executions.
- He's previously signaled that he'd embrace constitutional challenges, with a spokesperson saying of the child rape death penalty law that DeSantis is "prepared to take this law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule" existing precedent.
What's next: Rogers' execution is set for 6pm Thursday.