DeSantis accused of playing politics as Florida shatters executions record

Clouds hover over the entrance of Florida State Prison in Starke, Florida, on 3 August 2023. Photograph: Curt Anderson/AP

Death penalty opponents have decried an unprecedented surge in executions ordered by Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, after the state maintained a record pace with last week’s killing of a military veteran.

Norman Mearle Grim, who was convicted of the 1998 murder and rape of a neighbor, became the 15th person put to death this year, by lethal injection, at Florida State Prison in Starke on Wednesday.