Florida plans 13th 2026 execution as appeal pending

Florida is speeding up its use of the death penalty, with William Frances Silvia scheduled to become the state’s 13th execution of 2026, over 22 total across the U.S. this year. The 61-year-old is to receive a three-drug lethal injection for the 2006 killings of his estranged wife and wounding of her mother, with his final appeal still pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Florida has already carried out more than half of the nation’s executions so far in 2026 and has two more planned for September, underscoring Republican Governor Ron DeSantis’s term’s tough stance on capital punishment. Silvia’s case has a history of death-penalty rulings, including an initial death sentence in 2008 later vacated and then reinstated after a new penalty phase in 2018. The state’s aggressive execution pace has drawn national attention to Florida’s capital system, which led the country with 19 executions in 2025. In context, the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel continues to provide legal representation to death row inmates, even as appeals proceed in high courts.