Florida could match its annual execution record this Thursday and surpass it before the year ends, if the death sentences scheduled by the Republican government of Ron DeSantis are carried out.
According to reported by FOX 35 Orlando, authorities plan to carry out the lethal injection of Jesse Guardado, 64 years old, at 6:00 p.m. local time, at Florida State Prison, near Starke.
If it materializes, it would be the 19th execution of 2026 and the state would match its annual maximum, set just last year.
The figure is confirmed by the Death Penalty Information Center, which records 19 executions in Florida in 2025, the highest number in a year since the state resumed capital punishment in 1979.
The previous record was eight executions, recorded in 2018.
The difference compared to previous years is considerable. In 2024, Florida executed one person, while in 2025 it accounted for approximately 40% of the 47 executions carried out across the United States.
The state arrives at this day with 18 executions completed during 2026.
The most recent occurred on October 20, when William Reaves, 77 years old, received a lethal injection for the murder of a sheriff's deputy in Indian River County committed in 1986.
If Guardado is executed this Thursday, Florida would reach a total of 19 executions again. However, it would still not break the record: to surpass it, at least one additional execution would need to be carried out before December 31.
The authorities have two more scheduled. Thomas Mitchell Overton, 70 years old, is set for November 19, after being convicted of the murder of a couple in the Florida Keys in 1992. The woman was pregnant and the baby she was expecting did not survive either.
The following execution is scheduled for December 1st. The condemned is Ricardo Gonzalez, sentenced for killing a police officer in North Miami Beach during a bank robbery in 1992.
If the three pending executions take place, including that of Guardado, Florida would end 2026 with at least 21 executions, two more than the maximum set the previous year.
For now, Guardado's case remains pending the last-minute legal appeals. His lawyers filed two petitions with the Supreme Court of the United States to stay the execution, and the records checked on Thursday morning still did not show a definitive resolution.
Guardado was sentenced for murdering Jackie Malone, a 75-year-old woman who had helped him find housing and employment after he was released from prison.
The crime occurred on September 13, 2004, in Walton County, northwest Florida. According to the investigation, Guardado attacked Malone inside her home, struck her with a tool, stabbed her, and cut her throat.
Subsequently, he stole several belongings, including a purse, a jewelry box, a cell phone, and 80 dollars, to fund his drug use.
Guardado confessed to the murder, pleaded guilty, and received the death sentence in October 2005. In 2024, a federal appeals court determined that he had received a "full and fair" hearing during the phase of the proceedings in which his conviction was decided.
His defense has also challenged the lethal injection protocol used by Florida. The attorneys reported alleged irregularities related to expired medications, doses below the established standards, and unauthorized substances in some previous executions.
On October 30, a federal court denied a request to halt the execution, although his lawyers continued to seek a stay through other legal avenues.
Governor Ron DeSantis has defended the pace of executions under his administration by arguing that the families of victims deserve justice after waiting for decades for sentences to be carried out.
Florida also accounts for an exceptional proportion of the executions carried out in the United States this year. Of the 32 recorded nationwide by Thursday morning, 18 are from the state, more than half of the national total.
The events of November 5 also include two other executions scheduled in the United States.
In Indiana, Jeffrey Weisheit was executed in the early morning by lethal injection, after being convicted of causing a fire in 2010 that resulted in the deaths of his partner's two children, aged eight and five.
Alabama is also scheduled to carry out the execution of Michael Taylor this Thursday, who was convicted of murdering an elderly couple during a robbery he committed when he was 19 years old.
If the three scheduled executions take place, it would be the second time in 2026 that three people receive the death penalty in the United States on the same day.
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