Victor Jones’ Fate Rests with the United States Supreme Court
Late last week, the Florida Supreme Court refused to address the blatant misrepresentations made by Florida’s Attorney General in its death warrant filings. On Saturday, counsel for Victor Jones filed a petition for certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, urging the Court to stop Florida’s 13th execution of the year. The Jones’ petition challenges the State of Florida’s minimization and denigration of Jones’ powerful and new mitigating evidence regarding the abuse he suffered while confined at the Okeechobee School for Boys.
Beginning at his original trial and continuing through his appeals, the State of Florida and the courts dismissed Jones’ testimony of abuse as “not credible.” Law enforcement claimed “no physical evidence of abuse” existed, and prosecutors mocked Jones, telling jurors he deserved death because he squandered the “opportunities” Florida gave him at the Okeechobee School. The State was able to successfully perpetuate this false narrative for decades.
Then, in 2024, Florida’s legislature formally acknowledged the horrific abuse and its lasting traumatic effects and established a $20 million fund for victims of the Dozier and Okeechobee Schools. In January 2025, the Florida Attorney General’s Office sent a letter to Jones, formally recognizing him as a survivor of abuse. In July of 2025, the State deposited compensation into his prison account. 53 days later, the Governor set his execution date for September 30, 2025.
Suddenly, once the death warrant was signed, the Attorney General reversed course, refusing to turn over public records relating to Jones’ abuse. The Attorney General further claimed that the letter “doesn’t mean he was abused.” And as the cert petition makes clear, these arguments are rooted in demonstrably false facts, and the State’s formal recognition of abuse would have made a difference to Jones’ jury.
Unless the United States Supreme Court stops this execution, the State of Florida, through its elected officials, will have forever buried the truth about Victor Jones.
DeSantis Signs Death Warrant for Unrepresented Norman Grim – Hearing today at 1:30 p.m. CDT in Santa Rosa County
On Friday, September 26, 2025, Governor DeSantis signed his 15th death warrant of the year for Norman Mearle Grim, Jr., setting the execution for October 28, 2025. Grim is currently without state court counsel.
Under the law, the Attorney General and the courts are required to monitor the status of postconviction counsel and make sure that death-sentenced prisoners have continuous representation. Grim’s prior state court appointed attorney retired several years ago, but never officially withdrew from the case.
Notably in March of 2025, the Attorney General asked the circuit court to appoint new state counsel, claiming in a footnote that the request was made as part of a “routine review,” and not due to any knowledge of a pending execution warrant. The circuit court took no action on the motion.
On September 22, 2025, four days before the Governor signed Grim’s warrant, the Attorney General filed a renewed request — this time without disclaiming knowledge of a pending execution. Despite knowing Grim was unrepresented in state court, the Governor signed his death warrant. Less than an hour after the warrant, the Attorney General filed an Emergency Motion in the Florida Supreme Court to appoint counsel.
The timing of all these filings raises the question of whether the Attorney General’s Office knew the Governor was preparing to sign an execution warrant for Norman Grim — perhaps up to 7 months before Grim himself was ever notified.
Even if state court counsel is finally appointed at today’s hearing, Grim will be saddled with counsel who can’t possibly review the record in time, as the initial motion is due in the next few days.
“To give new counsel less than 30 days to review a death penalty case before this ultimate and irrevocable punishment is carried out is an unconscionable act and a serious constitutional violation of Grim’s right to counsel,” says Maria DeLiberato, Esq, Executive Director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
###
FADP is a Florida-based, state-wide organization working to end the death penalty in Florida. Our network includes dozens of state and local groups and thousands of individual Floridians, including murder victims’ family members and other survivors of violent crime, law enforcement professionals, families of the incarcerated, and death row exonerees.