Florida cancels execution of prisoner five days before execution

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has overturned the death sentence of 74-year-old inmate William Thompson, convicted of a murder committed 50 years ago. This is reported by the New York Post, citing a letter from the governor to the warden.

According to the publication, the sentence was canceled just five days before execution. The reason for the cancellation is not officially stated. The paper suggests the decision could have been made amid reports of a prisoner's dementia.

Under current U.S. law, the death penalty cannot be imposed on prisoners if they are unable to understand why they are being killed because of illness.

Thompson was sentenced to death for a brutal murder in 1976. The sentence was repeatedly overturned and handed down again, and the execution itself was postponed twice. He has been on death row since 1989. According to Thompson’s lawyer, the prisoner “does not have the mental capacity to understand the fact of the impending execution and its cause.”.

The killer 13 people decided to execute live.

Curtis Flowers, 22 years in prison, has died in the United States.