Earlier this evening, Governor DeSantis signed a death warrant for Frank Walls, an intellectually disabled man who should be categorically barred from execution. Frank was sentenced to death for the 1987 murder of Ann Peterson. His execution is scheduled for December 18 at 6 pm. We will have more information and action steps available soon.
Florida Plans to Execute Malik Despite Unresolved Constitutional Failures
Florida plans to execute U.S. Army veteran Richard Randolph (Malik Abdul-Sajjad) this Thursday at 6 pm. If carried out, it will be the 17th execution this year, the highest number in Florida history. That record is not an accident. It is the result of a state machinery that has abandoned constitutional guardrails, cut off access to counsel, and ignored the federal protections that are supposed to stand between a human being and the execution chamber.
This is not justice. It is expediency. And expediency is exactly what the state is banking on.
Malik’s legal team has filed an Application for Stay of Execution and a Petition for Writ of Certiorari at the U.S. Supreme Court, raising issues that Florida’s courts refused even to consider:
First, Florida ignored binding federal law. Throughout warrant litigation, Malik repeatedly raised federal constitutional claims. The Florida Supreme Court refused to engage with them, misstated controlling precedent, or simply sidestepped the issues entirely. States cannot bypass federal protections when someone’s life is on the line, yet that is precisely what happened. When a court refuses to adjudicate federal claims, it eliminates the very rights the Constitution demands be honored.
Second, Malik lives with lupus, and the medical risks of lethal injection were never heard. Lupus significantly increases the dangers of Florida’s three-drug protocol: heightened risks of pulmonary distress, vascular collapse, organ shutdown, and conscious suffering. Malik’s lawyers sought a factual hearing to present medical evidence. The Florida Supreme Court refused. The Constitution does not permit an execution to proceed without examining whether the method will cause unconstitutional pain, yet the state is pressing on anyway.
Third, Florida abandoned its clemency obligations. Clemency is supposed to function as the “fail-safe” of the system. Malik has not had a meaningful clemency review since 2014. There was no updated investigation, no interview, no opportunity to present new mitigation, not even as his health deteriorated, as he aged, or as new information about his life emerged. A decision made behind closed doors a decade ago is being used to justify his execution today.
Separate from the legal filings, the broader context in Florida has shifted dramatically. Yesterday, Florida Supreme Court Justice Canady announced he will step down in January. His departure highlights how profoundly the Florida Supreme Court has been reshaped since 2019. In that time, the Court has reversed key precedents, revived non-unanimous jury recommendations for death, narrowed postconviction review, and signaled an increased willingness to disregard federal constitutional standards. Once his successor is appointed, six of the Court’s seven justices will have taken office under Governor DeSantis. This level of consolidation has accelerated executions, weakened safeguards, and created the environment in which cases like Malik’s are now being decided. None of these structural realities appear in the pleadings, but they define the landscape in which those pleadings were denied.
We Can Still Change the Record Florida Is Writing Right Now
On Thursday morning, we will deliver thousands of petition signatures to Governor DeSantis and the Clemency Board. Add your name now and share it widely.
The governor has the sole authority to halt this execution at any point, for any reason. He counts on silence. Refusing silence is how we build power. Send him a message now.
If the execution proceeds, we will gather at 5 pm on Thursday across from Florida State Prison, as we do for every execution. Join us in person, online, or at one of the vigils being held statewide. We refuse to let this execution proceed unchallenged or unseen.
We know this administration’s record. We know the odds. But petitions and messages are not empty gestures. They build pressure, visibility, and a public record that Florida’s leaders cannot erase. Every name, every email, and every vigil is a refusal to comply with the quiet they expect from us. Power grows through repetition. Courage grows through witness.
Florida’s leaders want a state that meets despair with death, illness with punishment, and constitutional rights with indifference. We want, and are building, a Florida rooted in justice, mercy, and the truth.
This Thursday, we will show up again. And together we will say: Not in our name.
Onward,
The FADP Team
P.S. Mark Geralds is scheduled for execution on December 9 at 6 pm. Although he recently waived his remaining appeals, that does not make this execution just or lawful. His waiver occurred in the same context of trauma, lack of counsel, and systemic collapse we have seen all year. Please take action for him here.