Exonerated former death-row prisoners urge Florida's incoming governor to halt executions

Three men who were exonerated after serving time on Florida's death row have asked the state's incoming governor, Republican Byron Donalds, to halt executions and review the cases of all 235 condemned prisoners.

The appeal was made at a press conference in Tallahassee, the state capital, hosted by Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP). Its executive director, Grace Hanna, hosted the event.

Herman Lindsey, now executive director of Witness to Innocence, was exonerated in 2009 after three years on death row. He had been convicted over the 1994 killing of a pawn shop owner, a conviction that was later overturned. Joaquin Jose Martinez was sentenced to death in 1997 for a double murder and exonerated in 2001. Seth Penalver spent 18 years in prison, 13 of them on death row, after being charged in a 1994 triple homicide. He was later acquitted. Martinez and Penalver backed Lindsey's call in their roles as Witness to Innocence advocates.

The men said they want a roundtable discussion with Donalds and the state's new legislative leaders about a moratorium, a temporary suspension of executions. A representative for Donalds's transition team suggested that such a moratorium was unlikely.

Florida has carried out more executions than any other state in recent years, and it also leads the country in exonerations, according to The Guardian. Since the death penalty was reinstated nationwide in 1976, 30 condemned prisoners have been exonerated in Florida.

The timing of the appeal coincides with a busy period on the state's execution calendar. Thomas Overton's execution, scheduled for next Thursday, would be Florida's 20th of this year. That would surpass the record of 19 set in 2025.

Much of that pace traces to Governor Ron DeSantis, whose second term ends in January. DeSantis will have signed 50 death warrants, the orders that set execution dates, by the time he leaves office. All but two of his death sentences were carried out during that second term.