Florida’s 17th execution of this year is scheduled for Tuesday

Florida executed James Robertson, 62, by lethal injection Tuesday at Florida State Prison, the state's 17th execution this year, more than every other state in the country combined. Robertson strangled his cellmate at Charlotte Correctional Institution in 2008 using a garrote made of tied socks, and unlike most death row inmates, he never challenged his sentence, instead rejecting a life-sentence plea deal and insisting on first-degree murder charges.

Robertson told the court plainly that he chose the death penalty over life and wanted the sentence carried out. An anti-death penalty group, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, argues his case fits a documented pattern of using murder to secure execution, calling it evidence the death penalty may cause the violence it claims to prevent.

A second scheduled execution, of William Thompson, was withdrawn by Governor Ron DeSantis without explanation last week, days after more than 100 medical professionals cited Thompson's dementia and other ailments in asking for a reprieve.

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