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By Anna Commander
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Byron Donalds, Republican congressman and incoming Florida governor, was asked to halt upcoming executions in the Sunshine State by three former death row inmates on Thursday.
The men, Seth Penalver, Herman Lindsey and Joaquín José Martínez, are seeking a roundtable discussion with Donalds and asking that he review each case individually, The Guardian reports. The future of Florida's death penalty comes as Gavin Newsom, California's Democratic governor, commuted every death sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The decision impacts hundreds of inmates.
Florida leads the country in executions this year, conducting 19 so far, according to the state's Department of Corrections. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed the death warrant for Thomas Overton, who was convicted of killing a couple in the Florida Keys and their unborn child in 1992, CBS News reports. He is set to be executed on November 19, 2026, which would make the 20th execution in the state, the most in 50 years, the outlet highlights.
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Craig Agranoff, a political professor at Florida Atlantic University, told Newsweek on Thursday, "The request from the exonerees is straightforward, but Donalds has already drawn a clear line. He has said he supports the death penalty and will make sure violent offenders face the full consequences of the law. His team reinforced that after the request came in. Florida’s governor has wide authority over warrants, so a pause is legally possible."
Agranoff continued: "Politically it is harder. DeSantis signed a record number of warrants in the last two years. Donalds ran on continuity with that approach and won a close race by holding the Republican base. A formal moratorium would read as a break from that record at the exact moment he is trying to lock in his coalition. He can still slow the pace or review individual cases without announcing a pause. That would let him look careful while staying inside the law and order frame. Full differentiation on capital punishment is unlikely. The base that just elected him expects consistency on this issue, and he has given them no reason to expect otherwise."
Newsweek reached out to Donalds' campaign via email on Thursday for comment.
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What To Know
During the press conference in Tallahassee, the state's capital, Lindsey said in part, “Mr Byron, you don’t look like you are a person that is barbaric.
“I hope that you consider re-evaluating the death penalty before you use it, and investigate," Lindsey continued, The Guardian reports. “It’s not about him ending the death penalty, but I want to give him the knowledge and assist him to learn anything that he needed about the death penalty so he can make valid, right decisions.”
Lindsey is currently the Executive Director of Witness to Innocence, is on the Board of Directors of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and previously served as an Ambassador for Represent Justice, his online bio reads. He was previously sent to death row in 2006, related to the robbery and murder of a pawn shop owner in Fort Lauderdale. He was exonerated in 2009, the bio adds.
“It’s easier to believe that a person that’s exonerated, who is taken out of death row, got out because he was lucky than it is to believe that our system is failing,” Martinez said, according to The Guardian.
“It’s time to evolve; it’s time to change. It’s time we end the death penalty.” He was convicted of a double murder in Florida in 1997 and sentenced to death, his bio on Witness to Innocence says. He was later acquitted in 2001 and now lives in Spain, his home country.
Thursday's news conference was held by Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and Witness to Innocence, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
Earlier this week, Reverend Jeff Hood, an Arkansas pastor, asked for Donalds to put a 6-month moratorium on executions.
“Nobody chose this pace. No legislature voted for it. No commission studied it. No voter was asked whether Florida should execute at this rate,” Hood said in part in a letter sent to Donalds, The Miami Herald reported. “One man signed warrants faster than any governor before him and the state was forced to fall into step behind him.”
A spokesperson for Donalds told the outlet when asked about the potential for a 6-month pause that Donalds “is a staunch supporter of the death penalty and will govern as such.”
Where Donalds Stands on the Death Penalty
In a statement earlier this year about the death penalty, Donalds told The Herald that he supports it.
He added that he would “ensure violent criminals swiftly face the full weight of justice.”
“This is not California,” said Donalds. “Chaos will not run our streets, and criminals will not run our communities. In Florida, we don’t play that game. Harm a Floridian, and you will face the consequences.”
Craig Agranoff, a political professor at Florida Atlantic University, told Newsweek on Thursday, "The request from the exonerees is straightforward, but Donalds has already drawn a clear line. He has said he supports the death penalty and will make sure violent offenders face the full consequences of the law. His team reinforced that after the request came in. Florida’s governor has wide authority over warrants, so a pause is legally possible."
Agranoff continued: "Politically it is harder. DeSantis signed a record number of warrants in the last two years. Donalds ran on continuity with that approach and won a close race by holding the Republican base. A formal moratorium would read as a break from that record at the exact moment he is trying to lock in his coalition. He can still slow the pace or review individual cases without announcing a pause. That would let him look careful while staying inside the law and order frame. Full differentiation on capital punishment is unlikely. The base that just elected him expects consistency on this issue, and he has given them no reason to expect otherwise."
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Gray R. Thomas
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