Man convicted of 2004 killing is put to death in Florida’s 19th execution this year, tying a record

The announcement was a sharp contrast to Florida, where outgoing Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has made aggressive use of the death penalty like few other governors. His state has carried out more than half of the 34 executions so far this year in the U.S., where capital punishment has come under renewed scrutiny following Tennessee’s failed execution of Christa Pike in September.

It is the second time since August that three states were set to carry out executions on a single day, although it remains unusual. Prior to this year, the last time it happened was 2010.

Florida inmate apologized before receiving lethal injection

Guardado, 64, was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the curtain to the Florida execution chamber went up promptly at 6:00 p.m. When the team warden asked Guardado if he had any last statement, he replied, “I would like to once again apologize for the pain and suffering I’ve caused to the victim’s family and my own family, as well.”

The deadly drugs began flowing immediately after that. About a minute into the injection, Guardado began breathing heavily, followed by some sputtering and twitching that lasted about another minute.

As the twitching subsided, the team warden shook Guardado and shouted his name, but there was no response. A medic was called in to check for a pulse at 6:12 p.m. and Guardado was pronounced dead a minute later.

A federal appeals court had said in 2024 that Guardado had received a “full and fair” hearing during the death penalty phase of his case. The U.S. Supreme Court denied his last appeal without comment Thursday afternoon.

DeSantis, who leaves office in January, has said he wants to bring justice to victims’ families who have waited decades for death sentences to be carried out. He signed the death warrants that led to a state record of 19 executions in 2025. The state would surpass that total if two more executions are carried out as scheduled later this year.

Death penalty foes cite Alabama man’s age

In 1991, Michael Taylor, then 19, fatally beat two people, ages 83 and 79, with a metal bar during a robbery in their Gadsden, Alabama, home. Police arrested him with the victims’ Cadillac an hour away in Birmingham.

Death penalty opponents had urged Republican Gov. Kay Ivey to reduce Taylor’s sentence to life in prison, noting his age and immaturity at the time of the killings. She declined.

“If the state kills Michael, it is not the 19-year-old who made the worst mistake of his life who it kills. But the mature, well-respected, God-fearing man sitting in that cell today,” said Esther Brown of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty.

The state planned to execute Taylor, 54, by lethal injection after a judge declared a nitrogen gas method unconstitutional. His attorneys objected to the last-minute switch to lethal injection since he selected nitrogen gas as his method several years ago, but a judge ruled against Taylor.

Lawyers had asked for a life sentence for Indiana man

In Indiana, Jeffrey Weisheit, 50, was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. at the state prison in Michigan City, said Noelle Russell, spokesperson at the Department of Correction. She said he had no final words.

Weisheit had acknowledged killing his girlfriend’s two children in a house fire in the Evansville area in 2010 but had hoped Gov. Mike Braun would grant clemency and change his sentence to life in prison. Braun declined.

Lawyers failed to persuade Braun, a Republican, to allow Weisheit to undergo brain scans in an effort to reinforce their argument that he has a history of head injuries and mental health problems that should foreclose execution.

Weisheit’s last objection centered on the state’s planned use of lethal drugs purchased from a pharmacy that is facing a disciplinary hearing next week at the Indiana Pharmacy Board. The Indiana Supreme Court declined to intervene Wednesday night, though two of the five justices wanted a 10-day stay for more information about the drugs’ expiration and storage.

The execution provided “long-awaited justice for Alyssa Lynch and her brother Caleb, two innocent children whose lives were stolen in an act of unspeakable cruelty,” Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said.

Americans have long been uneasy over the death penalty

Americans have long been divided over the death penalty, with nearly half of states banning capital punishment outright and just a handful of others carrying out most of the nation’s executions each year.

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This story has been updated to correct that the failed Tennessee execution of Christa Pike was in September, not October.

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Fischer reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Chandler from Montgomery, Alabama. Associated Press reporter Ed White contributed from Detroit.

Kim Chandler And David Fischer, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

Man convicted of 2004 killing is put to death in Florida’s 19th execution this year, tying a record

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