Three men who spent a combined 26 years on death row in Florida before being exonerated have appealed to Governor-elect Byron Donalds to halt executions. At a meeting in Tallahassee on Thursday, Nov. 12, they called for a new review of the cases of people sentenced to death and for an examination of execution procedures.
The event, organized by Witness to Innocence and Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, was attended by Seth Penalever, Joaquín José Martínez and Herman Lindsey. Penalever spent 18 years in prison, including 13 on death row, after being convicted of a triple murder in Broward County in 1994. He was exonerated in 2012. Martínez, who was exonerated in 2001 after being convicted of a double murder in Tampa, acknowledged that he had once supported the death penalty himself. Lindsey, whose sentence was overturned in 2009 due to insufficient evidence, urged the incoming governor to examine the flaws in the system.
“We are asking the governor to stop the executions and review each case individually,” Penalever said. The former death row inmate noted that Florida has more exonerations of people sentenced to death than any other U.S. state. According to him, the figure is 30 men.
Since the beginning of 2025, 38 death sentences have been carried out in Florida: 19 executions last year and 19 this year. Both totals are records for the number of executions since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in the 1970s.
The execution of Thomas Overton, convicted of killing a married couple in the Florida Keys, is scheduled for Nov. 19. The execution of Ricardo Gonzalez, convicted of killing police officer Steven Bauer during a bank robbery in 1992, is set for Dec. 1.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has justified the acceleration of executions by citing the need to deliver justice to victims’ families, who have waited decades for sentences to be carried out.
Ed. JŁ
Source: Słoneczne Radio
