Yes, Gov. Ron DeSantis withdrew the death warrant for William Lee Thompson, ending the planned Oct. 13 execution of the 74-year-old. In fact, DeSantis withdraws execution order for the first time since taking office, according to the Associated Press, and the governor has not said why.
Meanwhile, silence from the governor’s office leaves everyone else to read the tea leaves. So let’s separate what is documented from what is educated guessing.
When DeSantis withdraws execution order: what he did
DeSantis sent a letter to Florida State Prison Warden Randall Polk on Thursday afternoon, Oct. 8, News4JAX reported. However, the letter gave no reason. Some coverage describes the move as a Friday cancellation, but the letter itself is dated Thursday.
Officials had set Thompson to die at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13. In fact, he was the second of two Florida executions scheduled that day. The first, for James Robertson, 63, is still on. A jury convicted Robertson of killing his cellmate, Frank Hart, in 2008.
The dementia claim behind the warrant
The timeline is where this gets interesting. DeSantis signed Thompson’s warrant on Sept. 11. Less than a week later, he issued Executive Order 26-192, appointing a three-member psychiatric panel after Thompson’s lawyers said he “may be insane.”
Meanwhile, a neuropsychologist met with Thompson on Sept. 15 and concluded he meets the criteria for insanity because of dementia, CBS Miami reported. Thompson’s counsel and death penalty opponents also cite heart failure and other serious health problems. That may explain why DeSantis cancels execution plans now, though no one has confirmed it.
Grace Hanna of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty says Thompson “did not know where he was” and at times did not recognize that he had been sentenced to death. She also says officials never released the panel’s findings or explained the withdrawal. That is an advocate’s account. So far, the state has not confirmed it.
Why the governor’s office decides when DeSantis calls off execution
Here’s the thing about Florida law: when a condemned inmate may be insane, the decision does not land with a judge first. Instead, it lands on the governor. Under Florida Statute 922.07, once someone tells the governor a prisoner may be insane, he must stay the execution and appoint a commission of three psychiatrists. (That is the 2017 text of the statute. Someone should confirm the current wording.)
From there, the path forks:
- If the governor finds the inmate competent, he lifts the stay and must set a new execution date within 10 days.
- If he finds the inmate lacks capacity, officials commit the person to a Department of Corrections mental health treatment facility.
Notably, nothing in that statute mentions withdrawing a death warrant. So this is not a clean textbook outcome, and the law does not spell out what happens next.
Courts did not stop this one
Hours before the withdrawal, the Florida Supreme Court denied Thompson’s motion for a stay. In other words, no court ended this execution. The governor did.
That is a big deal in a state that AP describes as home to the nation’s busiest death chamber. Even so, the execution warrant withdrawn on Thursday stands as a rare break from that pattern. Make no mistake: DeSantis withdraws execution order in a state where such a reversal almost never happens.
The case behind the execution warrant withdrawn
Thompson was convicted of the March 30, 1976 killing of Sally Ivester, 23. His case has a long and tangled history. A court sentenced him to death in June 1976. The Florida Supreme Court reversed in 1977 so he could withdraw his guilty plea, and in September 1978 he again pled guilty to all charges.
His lawyers also filed a federal lawsuit seeking care for life-threatening medical conditions, and the advocacy group says more than 120 medical professionals publicly condemned his treatment. Both claims come from the advocacy group, an interested party.
What we still don’t know about the withdrawn death warrant
Quite a lot, actually:
- Why DeSantis withdrew the warrant. The dementia connection is an inference by reporters and advocates.
- What the three psychiatrists found. The state has not released their findings.
- Whether anyone can or will sign a new warrant. Thompson stays on death row, and the statute is silent on withdrawals.
- Whether officials will move him to a medical or mental health facility. Attorney Bri Lacy says she hopes the Department of Corrections will relocate him “to an adequate medical facility and provide the care he needs.”
The bigger backdrop
The timing is hard to ignore. On Sept. 30, Tennessee failed to execute Christa Pike after two rounds of lethal injection, and Gov. Bill Lee halted all executions for the rest of 2026 and ordered an outside review. Whether that influenced Florida is pure speculation. No source connects the two.
Florida’s pace has not slowed. William Reaves is set for execution Oct. 20, and DeSantis signed a warrant on Oct. 5 for Jesse Guardado, set for Nov. 5. Robertson goes first on Tuesday. Florida also keeps making national news on other fronts, from its push to end vaccine mandates to storm threats along the Gulf Coast.
The next move belongs to DeSantis. A statement, a released panel report, or a fresh warrant would answer the question everyone is now asking: after DeSantis withdraws execution order, was this a one-off mercy, or the start of a pattern?
