For Immediate Release
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Attorneys representing William “Bill” Lee Thompson, scheduled for execution on October 13, 2026, have filed an Emergency All Writs Petition with the Florida Supreme Court, urging the Court to Order the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) to transport Mr. Thompson to an “appropriate medical facility and render the care necessary to address his imminent and exigent medical needs.”
“There is a basic question of human decency and medical ethics here. For our sake as a society, until the moment of his death he remains a living human being deserving of appropriate medical care,” said Dr. Joseph Thornton, a psychiatrist who formerly supervised the medical care of inmates on Florida Death Row as Medical Executive Director. “A civilized society does not impose death by medical neglect. The State of Florida owes it to our citizens to ensure proper treatment.”
Mr. Thompson was sentenced to death by a 7-5 jury vote for his role in the 1976 murder of Sally Ivester. For decades Mr. Thompson’s legal teams argued that his intellectual disability and subsequent significant and severe cognitive decline renders him ineligible for the death penalty.
According to the petition, Mr. Thompson’s health and cognitive status deteriorated sharply in the weeks before his death warrant was signed, with records from FDOC noting that he suffers from dementia. On August 17, he was found unresponsive in his cell at Union Correctional Institution. The medical examination described his breathing as “shallow, uneven, and labored,” with weeping edema in both legs, froth coming from his mouth, and a blood sugar level of 22. His blood pressure fell to 55/31 and he was transported to an outside hospital in unstable condition.
Emergency services were called and Mr. Thompson was admitted to the first of three outside hospitals. Records from HCA Jacksonville Memorial Hospital document acute heart failure, severe fatty liver disease, pneumonia, multiple pressure ulcers, and an end-stage sacral wound. He also had a partial collapse or incomplete expansion of the lower portions of both lungs. His liver disease was severe enough that a transplant was requested. He underwent surgery to create a colostomy and ileostomy to assist with wound healing and experienced serious complications following the procedure.
Mr. Thompson was discharged from Jacksonville Memorial on September 3, but during transport back to prison, he “slid out of his wheelchair” and suffered a head wound requiring three staples. Records noted that his colostomy bag was sitting unattached in his lap and the wound was saturated in feces. He was hospitalized again at UF Health (Shands) and treated for sepsis, blood clots in both lungs, pneumonia, severe malnutrition, and other conditions. When he was discharged on September 10, he required complete assistance with bathing, toileting, transferring, and continence and still had an open sacral ulcer, 17 staples in his abdomen, three staples in his head, and a catheter. He was sent straight to “W Dorm,” the wing of death row designated for inmates receiving end-of-life care. Shortly after 3:00 pm on September 11, less than 24 hours after his discharge from the hospital, the Governor signed Mr. Thompson’s death warrant. He was then transferred to a death-watch cell at Florida State Prison that the petition states is neither a medical cell nor equipped to meet his needs.
“Moving a gravely ill 74-year-old man with dementia from a prison hospice unit to death-watch is shocking and shameful, even in a state that has carried out an unprecedented number of executions over the past two years,” said Grace Hanna, Executive Director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. “Right now, the most immediate question is whether Florida will provide Mr. Thompson with the medical care and basic human dignity he so clearly needs. I hope this case also forces all of us to consider what kind of state we want Florida to be – and what we are willing to permit our government to do in our name.”
When neuropsychologist Dr. Robert Ouaou evaluated Mr. Thompson at Florida State Prison on September 15, Mr. Thompson was covered in blankets and appeared “too weak to freely move his arms or extremities.” Dr. Ouaou observed fluid that appeared to be blood coming from the staples in Mr. Thompson’s head. The petition states that Mr. Thompson was disoriented and “expressed numerous times that he was in severe pain.” Additionally, when speaking with his counsel, Mr. Thompson was unable to recall any details about his hospitalizations and appeared unaware of the fact that he had an ostomy bag or staples in his head and abdomen.
The emergency petition does not ask the Court to stay Mr. Thompson’s execution or overturn his sentence. It asks only that he be transported to a hospital capable of treating his immediate medical needs. Separately, the filing also notes that the legal team “has alerted the Governor’s office” of its “good faith belief that Mr. Thompson lacks a rational understanding of the current proceedings” and is not competent to be executed. That process, as well as the typical post-warrant process challenging his sentence, will play out separate and apart from the current Emergency All Writs Petition.
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