Florida executed Andrew Richard Lukehart on Tuesday evening, three decades after he confessed to murdering his girlfriend's five-month-old daughter and disposing of her body in a pond. The 53-year-old was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m. after receiving a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke.
Lukehart had been sentenced to death in 1997 for the first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse of Gabrielle Hanshaw, whose death occurred a year earlier. According to court records, Lukehart was watching the baby in February 1996 while his girlfriend cared for her older daughter, who was ill. He later claimed the baby had been kidnapped, but confessed that Gabrielle died after he dropped her on her head and shook her, then threw her in a pond.
When asked for his final statement, Lukehart raised his head and said, 'I'm sorry,' then recited the Bible verse Luke 23:34: 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' He declined a final meal and had no visitors, though he met with a spiritual adviser. The execution was Florida's eighth this year, following a record 19 in 2025.
The Florida Supreme Court denied Lukehart's appeals last week, and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal on Monday. His attorneys had argued that medication for kidney disease could react negatively with the lethal injection drugs and that the short time between the death warrant and execution violated due process.
