In 48 hours, the State of Florida plans to execute Frank Walls. This will be the 19th execution of 2025, extending a bloody record. Yesterday, our colleagues at the Death Penalty Information Center published their annual report detailing the year’s trends in executions. Though Florida stood out in a bad way, there is still good news. Public support for the death penalty is lower than ever, and juries are declining to recommend death in the vast majority of cases.
Before each execution, many of you reach out to ask us what stands out about that case in particular, and how you can talk to your friends and family about it. For Frank, there are 3 things I think are especially important to focus on:
- Frank is intellectually disabled, with IQ scores in the low 70s. For more than two decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has been unequivocal: people with intellectual disabilities cannot be executed. This is not a technicality. It is a constitutional mandate rooted in basic human dignity. This alone should be more than enough to spare Frank’s life. Yet, Florida has repeatedly ignored and denied evidence of Frank’s lifelong cognitive impairments, and is rushing to execute him anyway.
- Frank has relied on his Catholic faith during his nearly 40 years on death row. He is known for his piety and devotion to his religious practices, and lives out these values by helping others and sharing devotions with his fellow prisoners. Earlier this year, he completed the year-long Novitiate process to become a Benedictine Oblate. An Oblation is a formal, lifelong commitment that demonstrates mature, sincere, disciplined faith. Despite this, the Florida Department of Corrections attempted to deny Frank access to his spiritual advisor at the time of death. After a lawsuit was filed, FDOC quickly agreed to honor his constitutionally-protected rights.
- Frank’s health issues, which significantly worsened in July of this year, make him especially vulnerable to the already-known risks of lethal injection such as pulmonary edema. The Eighth Amendment protects against cruel and unusual punishment — even when someone has been convicted of a horrible crime. What makes matters worse is that new evidence has emerged indicating what we have long suspected: FDOC staff is straining under the pace of constant executions, leading to errors in their execution protocol. In addition to sloppy records and documentation, it appears that incomplete doses of medications and expired drugs were used in several executions this year. For someone like Frank who is already at risk of extreme complications, this is an unacceptable risk.
At Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, we oppose every execution because we believe that the death penalty creates more victims and perpetuates the cycle of harm, but we hope that these talking points help you to spread the word before Frank’s scheduled execution.
In addition to telling someone in your life, here’s what you can do in the next 48 hours:
- Sign and share the petition: we are urgently gathering signatures demanding that Governor DeSantis stop this execution
- Send a message to the Governor: he has the sole authority to halt this execution at any time, for any reason
- Show up: if the execution is not stopped, we will gather at 5:00 p.m. ET across from Florida State Prison on Thursday to bear witness. Join us there, online, or at one of the events happening across the state.
We have just two days to act. Please take a few moments to do what you can and create a historical record of opposition to this most gruesome year.
In hope,
Bridget
FADP Communications Director