Critics blast DeSantis for ramping up Florida death row scheduled executions ahead of 2024

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is poised to execute a fifth man on death row within six months, ramping up the state's speed on capital punishment ahead of the 2024 election.

In recent months, DeSantis signed two pieces of legislation related to the death penalty, including one allowing the state to seek capital punishment in non-murder cases of sexual battery involving children under 12 that will become law on Oct. 1. The other bill allows for the death penalty without a unanimous jury decision.

Taken together, political commentators and opponents of capital punishment have said the moves could be part of DeSantis's latest attempt to compete with his rival Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who used the death penalty to execute 13 federal inmates during his last six months in office.

The governor had signed on to two executions in his four years in office – a stark contrast to recent months.

In late June, DeSantis signed a death warrant for 61-year-old Brevard County death row inmate James Barnes on Aug. 3. Barnes was sentenced to death after he confessed to a prosecutor about his role in the murder and rape of a nurse in 1988. He pleaded guilty in 2006, and a judge sentenced him to death a year later.

What's the average rate of executions?

The national average for time a prisoner spends on death row before being executed is about 18 years, said Robin Maher, an executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. In Florida, the average rate is almost 23 years, according to Florida Corrections Department records, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

The men executed in Florida this year were on death row for decades.

Though some governors – including those in Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania – have put a hold on capital punishment in recent years, Florida is speeding ahead with it under DeSantis's watch, Maher said. Her group has been tracking cases in Florida and elsewhere.

The state is one of the highest users of capital punishment in the country and stands alongside 23 other states where the death penalty is active.

"It's true generally that crime is often an issue in an election year, and from what we’ve seen, it will definitely be a part of this upcoming election," Maher said. "The question really is whether the use of the death penalty is going to keep anyone safer in our communities."

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Why is DeSantis speeding up executions?

In an email, Jeremy Redfern, a spokesperson for DeSantis's office, said the governor is speeding up executions because "COVID-19 and state emergencies (like hurricanes) can delay the death warrant process, but that process has resumed."

Many states halted their use of capital punishment during COVID-19, with the exception of the federal government under the Trump administration, Maher said.

"Last year, in part because of the coronavirus outbreak, fewer people were executed than in any year in nearly three decades," according to a report in 2021 from The Pew Research Center.

Maria DeLiberato, executive director for the group Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, challenged the office's claim about the connection to COVID-19, adding that the timing of resumptions at "an alarming rate" aligns with the 2024 election and soon after a jury recommended life in prison for Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the 2018 school massacre in Parkland, Florida.

"The restarting of these executions seems to indicate – in large part because of his bid for president to appear tough on crime – he wants Florida to fall in line and be a law and order state," she said. "The problem and what we've urged is that it really will create chaos and instability in the system. These executions have further solidified that."

Who were the men executed by Florida this year?

Donald Dillibeck, 59, was executed by the state of Florida on Feb. 23. He was on death row for 32 years after he was convicted of the 1990 murder of a woman in a Tallahassee mall parking lot, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

It was the first execution by the state in three years. Before he died while strapped on a gurney, Dillbeck, 59, addressed the governor.

“I know I hurt people when I was young. I really messed up. But I know Ron DeSantis has done a lot worse. He’s taken a lot from a lot of people," he said. "I speak for all men, women, and children. He’s put his foot on our necks.”

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Louis Gaskin, 56, was executed in Florida on April 12. He was known as the "ninja killer" and was on death row for decades

Gaskin was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the killings of two people in Palm Coast, Florida. A jury decided in 1990 in an 8-4 vote to sentence him to death. He was the 100th execution in the state.

Darryl Barwick, 56, was executed in Florida on May 4. He was also on death row for several decades. He was convicted of the stabbing murder of 24-year-old Rebecca Wendt in 1986 when he was 19.

His last words were: "It’s time to apologize to the victim’s family, to my family. I can’t explain why I did what I did."

Duane Owen, 62, was executed June 15. He was on death row for nearly four decades for the killing of 38-year-old Georgianna Worden and the stabbing death of 14-year-old Karen Slattery.

"I have transcended space and time, I have the visions of The Crow. My energy and particles will transform and infinitum, I will live on. I am Tula. 13," he wrote in his final statement.

Where do Americans stand on executions?

A survey of more than 5,000 U.S. adults in April 2021 by The Pew Research Center shows that more than three-quarters of Republicans and independents who lean Republican said they "favor the death penalty for persons convicted of murder, including 40% who stronglyfavor it."

On the other side of the political aisle, "Democrats and Democratic leaners are more divided on this issue."

The center's research shows that 46% of people who are Democrat or Democrat-leaning favor the death penalty, while 53% oppose capital punishment.

"About a quarter of Democrats (23%) strongly oppose the death penalty, compared with 17% who strongly favor it," a report on the survey reads.

Contributing: John Kennedy and Kathryn Varn, The Tallahassee Democrat, J.D. Gallop, Florida Today, Claire Thornton and Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY, Mollye Barrows, Pensacola News Journal, Laura Lordi, Lianna Norman, Holly Baltz, Palm Beach Post

Contact Kayla Jimenez at kjimenez@usatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter at @kaylajjimenez.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Florida executions ramping up under Ron DeSantis ahead of 2024 bid