Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the execution order for William Lee Thompson, sentenced to death for the murder of Sally Ivester in 1976, who has been on death row for over 46 years.
The execution has been scheduled for October 13, 2026, at 6:00 PM, as reported by FOX 13, during a time when Florida is experiencing an unprecedented rate of executions in its recent history.
The crime occurred on March 30, 1976, in a motel room in Miami-Dade County. According to court documents cited by the media, Thompson and his accomplice, Rocco James Surace, subjected Ivester to a brutal beating after the woman failed to obtain between $200 and $300 that they demanded from her mother.
The men took her to a phone booth so she could request the money, and after returning to the motel, they continued to assault her.
The documents indicate that approximately 80% of Ivester's body showed deep bruises, cuts, and burns. The woman died as a result of internal bleeding and multiple injuries.
Thompson was arrested days later and found guilty in 1978 of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault. His death sentence was imposed in 1980.
Since then, he has remained on death row for over four decades, as his case went through successive legal appeals.
The order signed by DeSantis is not the first one that Thompson has faced. In 1987, the Florida Supreme Court examined an appeal filed when he was under his second death warrant. The court then upheld the stay and ordered a new sentencing procedure. Years later, in 1993, the state Supreme Court affirmed the new death sentence.
The case also reached the Supreme Court of the United States, where Thompson requested a review of his conviction, arguing that remaining for decades awaiting execution constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
In 2009, the highest U.S. court declined to review the case, although its situation sparked debate among some justices, as documented by Human Rights Watch.
The then-judge John Paul Stevens highlighted the "dehumanizing effects" of Thompson's confinement conditions, as he had spent a significant portion of his incarceration in a cell for about 23 hours a day.
His accomplice, Surace, was also initially sentenced to death, but later received a life sentence for second-degree murder after a retrial.
As of 2026, Florida has executed 15 individuals and has more executions scheduled. Curtis W. Beasley, 77 years old, has his scheduled for September 29.
If Thompson's execution takes place on October 13, it will have been more than 50 years since Sally Ivester's murder and over 46 years since he was placed on death row.
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