Florida executes 77-year-old Curtis Beasley, its 16th execution of 2026

Florida executed Curtis Wilkie Beasley on Tuesday evening. He was 77.

Beasley died by lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. The needle went in at 6 p.m. ET. The Department of Corrections announced he was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m.

His final words, according to the Associated Press: "I want to apologize for all the mistakes I made." He maintained his innocence through decades of appeals.

He was convicted of first-degree murder, robbery, and grand theft auto in the 1995 killing of Carolyn Monfort, 62.

On Aug. 21, 1995, Beasley beat Monfort to death with a claw hammer at her Polk County home, according to court records. The medical examiner counted 15 to 20 blows to the head.

Beasley had been staying at Monfort’s home while doing maintenance work at an apartment complex she managed. He stole $800 and her car, then fled.

He was arrested five months later in Alabama, working under the name “William Benson.” A jury recommended the death sentence by a 10-2 vote.

Final appeals failed

Beasley’s lawyers argued that executing a man his age, in declining health, would be cruel and unusual punishment. They also challenged the non-unanimous jury recommendation and the short window between the death warrant and the execution date.

The Florida Supreme Court rejected the appeal on Sept. 22. On Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay of execution without comment. Justice Clarence Thomas handled the application. A petition for a writ of certiorari was also denied.

Beasley ate grilled cheese sandwiches and ice cream for his last meal, Department of Corrections spokesman Jordan Kirkland said, according to the Associated Press. He had three visitors and met with a spiritual advisor.

A record pace

Beasley was the 16th person executed in Florida this year, the most of any state. Fifteen others had been put to death before Tuesday.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed death warrants at a pace never before seen in the state. He signed nine warrants in his first five years as governor. Starting in February 2025, he signed 19. The state carried out 19 executions that year, more than double the previous record.

In July, Florida executed two people on the same day for the first time in 62 years.

DeSantis has said victims’ families have waited long enough. “I don’t take joy in doing that; it’s a weighty thing,” he said in July. He has called the death penalty “an appropriate punishment for the worst offenders.”

Opponents of the death penalty held vigils outside the prison and in Pinellas County, Jacksonville, North Port, Pensacola, and Tallahassee. Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty organized the gatherings.

Beasley was the seventh Florida prisoner over the age of 70 to be executed this year, according to the Associated Press.

Florida has 235 people on death row, the second most in the country after California, which has 565.

Two more executions are scheduled: William Lee Thompson on Oct. 13 and William Reaves Jr. on Oct. 20.