A Florida prisoner who said he killed his cellmate so he could be moved to death row was executed on Tuesday, nearly 18 years after the fatal attack. James Robertson, 63, was pronounced dead at 12.32pm after receiving a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and waived all appeals in the 2008 strangling of Frank Hart.
Execution follows botched attempt in Tennessee
Robertson's execution comes amid escalating attention on the death penalty in the US, after death row inmate Christa Pike survived an execution attempt in Tennessee despite receiving two lethal doses of pentobarbital.
Florida Department of Corrections spokesperson Jordan Kirkland was asked at a press conference early Tuesday how the state planned to make sure what happened to Pike wouldn't happen in Florida. Kirkland said, noting he couldn't speak to Tennessee's lethal injection procedure: "Florida has a sound lethal injection process and protocol. We are very committed to carrying that out in a humane and dignified manner."
Killing to be sentenced to death
According to court records, Robertson was incarcerated at Charlotte Correctional Institution, north of Fort Myers, in December 2008 when he strangled Hart while the other man slept. Robertson told investigators that the attack was unprovoked and that he killed his cellmate so that he would be sentenced to death, rather than having to live out his days in prison.
Robertson was 17 years old when he went to prison in 1980 for burglary and assault. Years of convictions for escape, battery and weapons while in prison kept adding time to his total sentence. Hart was sent to prison in 2003 following a sexual battery conviction.
Waived appeals and final hearing
Robertson pleaded guilty and waived a penalty phase, where a jury would recommend the death penalty or life in prison. A judge sentenced Robertson to death, and he later waived all post-conviction proceedings.
Robertson reiterated his position during a hearing earlier this month, telling a judge that he understood his execution had been scheduled and that he didn't want to make any final appeals to the Florida Supreme Court or US Supreme Court.
Opponents question deterrence
Opponents of the death penalty say Robertson's case undermines claims that executions deter murder. Maria DeLiberato, the legal and policy director for Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said Hart deserved to be safe in prison and argued that "the existence of the death penalty may have caused the very violence it purportedly prevents."
Robertson's execution comes after news Pike has left the hospital she was taken to after her botched execution. She has since left hospital, after being taken off a ventilator and being able to speak and walk.
