A man convicted of killing a grocery store owner during a robbery is set to become Florida's second execution of 2026 under a death warrant signed Friday by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed off on a record 19 executions last year.
Melvin Trotter, 65, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Feb. 24 at Florida State Prison. DeSantis, a Republican, oversaw more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The previous record was set in 2014 with eight executions.
After taking a break for January, Florida appears to be resuming its pattern of two executions a month, which it maintained from May to December last year. Ronald Palmer Heath, 64, is scheduled to die on Feb. 10, two weeks before Trotter.
