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The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, signed his ninth execution order of 2026 for Andrew Richard Lukehart, 53, convicted for the crime against five-month-old Gabrielle Hanshaw in Duval County in February 1996, according to NBC Miami.
Lukehart, from Jacksonville, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on June 2 at Florida State Prison in Starke, with an execution window extending until noon on June 9.
According to court records, the crime occurred on February 25, 1996, when the man was trying to change the diaper of his girlfriend's baby, Gabrielle, and the girl would not stay still.
Lukehart himself testified during the trial that he "forcibly and repeatedly pushed the baby's head and neck against the floor."
After the crime, he threw the body of the minor into a nearby pond, took his partner's car, and fled.
About 30 minutes later, he called his girlfriend and claimed that an individual in a blue Chevy Blazer had kidnapped the baby, but the vehicle was found abandoned in Clay County, and Lukehart was discovered in the yard of a Florida State Police officer.
Initially, he maintained the story of the kidnapping, but ultimately confessed to committing the crime.
The jury found him guilty on February 27, 1997, and one month later, recommended the death penalty with a vote of nine to three.
The Florida Supreme Court upheld the conviction and sentence in the year 2000, and the case has been in the judicial system for almost 30 years with all appeals exhausted.
Finally, DeSantis signed the order last Friday, one day after the state executed 69-year-old James Hitchcock, convicted of sexual assault and the murder of his niece by marriage in 1976. It was the sixth execution in Florida so far in 2026.
The order for Lukehart is part of the accelerated pace of executions that the governor has implemented in Florida: in 2025, the state executed 19 people, a historic record in the modern era of the death penalty, since its reinstatement in 1976.
That trend made Florida the leading state in executions across the country.
Before Lukehart's turn arrives, the execution of 47-year-old Richard Knight is scheduled for May 21. He was convicted of the double murder of Odessia Stephens and her four-year-old daughter, Hanessia Mullings, in Broward County in 2000.
DeSantis also promoted a legal reform that eliminated the requirement of jury unanimity to recommend the death penalty, and since the beginning of his term, he has signed dozens of execution orders.
In light of this pace, opponents of the death penalty in Florida have become more active: the organization Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty announced a signature-gathering campaign on Friday to convey global opposition to these executions to DeSantis.
His executive director, Grace Hanna, stated: "And as we mourn, the machinery of execution continues. The cell where Hitchcock once was is now occupied by a new man who has been told he has a month to live."
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